


Across the Vast Wastes of Space

by octovoid128



Series: Tales Will Live and Die [1]
Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Accidental Flirting, Canon-Typical Violence, Fake Marriage, Implied Sexual Content, Intentional Flirting, It's all about the YEARNING, Lyf and the Toy Soldier in the kitchen, Lyf is not going to put up with any of this bullshit, Lyf makes bad life choices, M/M, Marius has a violin and he is Going to make that Lyf's problem, Marius is a little bit in denial but that's okay he's valid, Nastya is there bc i say so, Nothing explicit, Oh lyfrassir we're really in it now, The Toy Soldier is good, accidentally traumatizing octokittens, also there's shopping!, because they actually like Lyf, bed sharing, brian has become. Toaster, brian is a good friend, brief mention of cannibalism in chapter 7, but hey there's still some gay shit in there, chapter 11 is. angsty. Sorry folks., denial runs deep, everyone say thank you to brian nastya and TS, heavy breathing, jonny d'ville makes bad puns, oh my god they were roommates, the mechs will offer little a comfort, the pining has only intensified, these boys are not smart and they're so valid, they have been saved, they rob a museum and everything is fine, they're soft okay, what will they cook, you guys can have more kissing as a treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:27:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 28,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22810984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/octovoid128/pseuds/octovoid128
Summary: Of all the people Lyfrassir Edda could have run into after fleeing the Yggdrasil system, it just had to be the Mechanisms, didn't it?
Relationships: Lyfrassir Edda/Marius von Raum
Series: Tales Will Live and Die [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1667215
Comments: 456
Kudos: 393
Collections: Stowaways' Shenanigans





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I did change tenses in there somewhere but I don't care that much.

Something kept bringing Lyfrassir Edda back to the Mechanisms. Call it what you will, fate, destiny, a huge fuck-off eldritch being consuming your entire solar system. One particular annoying space pirate. Whatever it was, it was beginning to get on Lyf’s nerves. He’d been so sure that the one pro to the Yggdrasil System being destroyed by Yog-Sothoth was the fact that he’d never have to deal with the Mechanisms again. Even if Alexandria, la Cognizi and Von Raum had all escaped before the Bifrost had turned his planetary system into a gaping wound in the very flesh of reality itself, the rest of the universe was _ huge _ ! Surely he’d never run into them again!

Of course, Lyfrassir had never been that lucky. After he’d run out of the fuel he’d gotten from the Hodmimis mining colony, he’d ended up a sitting duck, floating through the cosmos with no way to get further away from the Yggdrasil system and no way to get to a semi-habitable planet. He was beginning to regret his decision to leave Midgard. Sure, he wasn’t consumed by an immense being of madness and nuclear chaos, but was starving in the depths of space much more ideal? He still had food and water but the stores couldn’t last forever. The best chance he had was to get an SOS signal out. Maybe there would be a ship in range that could pick it up. It was all he could do. 

He was at first pleasantly surprised when he saw that there  _ was _ in fact a ship on his radar that he could probably get the signal to. He didn’t even consider it could possibly be the escaped prisoners that he was glad to finally be rid of. Lyfrassir sent out the signal immediately.

“SOS, this is Inspector Second Class Lyfrassir Edda, New Midgard Transport Police, requesting immediate assistance.”

It felt like days but was probably only a few hours when he received a reply signal from the ship on his radar, brief and garbled, like whoever had typed it out was fighting over the keyboard with someone else: “onoour way inpsector!WILREKfsdakl;f” Lyfrassir hoped he was reading it correctly and that it said “on our way, inspector.” and not something hostile. He still couldn’t physically see the ship he was hailing but all he could do was hope that it would appear.

It was another few hours still before the ship came into view. It was much larger than his own, and shaped like a huge wheel with a rocket in the middle. A strange-looking thing for sure, but he was far out of the Yggdrasil System so surely other systems had different types of ships? He wasn’t sure why the odd sight of the ship that was coming to rescue him was giving him a pit in his stomach. He should be happy that the ship was coming, that it hadn’t abandoned him after all. So why was he feeling so anxious about it?

The ship took its sweet time getting to him and even longer to reel in his dinky little spacepod, and the longer it took, the more Lyf couldn’t stop himself from pacing the small interior back and forth. His rescuers hadn’t sent any further transmissions so that wasn’t making him feel any more reassured. Well, if they were planning on killing him, at least that would be a quicker death than wasting away. Oddly, this thought helped calm him down as his ship was finally engulfed by the ship’s docking bay.

Unfortunately, all of this calm immediately flew out the window when the door to his ship hissed open and he saw the face of his rescuer:

“Ah, Good evening Inspecta’ Lyf! And how are you doing on this fine non-prison day?”

Oh sweet fucking Yog-Sothoth this can’t be happening.

~

Lyfrassir’s reply is almost instinctual at this point: “Von Raum.” spoken with as much contempt as he can muster.

“Aw, don’t be like that, Lyffie! It’s good to see that you survived the apocalypse. Welcome on board the Aurora!” Von Raum is grinning like the madman he is and Lyfrassir has to take a deep, calming breath.

“If I’d have known it was you wankers who would answer my signal, I would have never sent it.” Lyf folds his arms across his chest.

“Well, unfortunately, you did send it. Now you’re  _ our _ prisoner. Oh how the turns have tabled, eh, Lyf?” Von Raum wiggles his eyebrows in the most insufferable manner possible.

“I would honestly rather you just kill me now and get it over with.” Lyf deadpans.

Von Raum just gives him a dismissive wave with his mechanical arm, “We’re not going to kill you! Probably not, anyways. Just… tread cautiously around Jonny.” he cringes slightly, “or just avoid him entirely. That would probably be best for your health. Now come on, you must be exhausted.”

Lyfrassir  _ was _ exhausted. He still wasn’t pleased with this development at all, but if Von Raum and the rest of his motley crew weren’t going to kill him, he might as well take advantage of whatever amenities their odd spaceship could offer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lyf traumatizes an octokitten and Marius traumatizes Lyf

Following Von Raum down the snaking, almost incomprehensible corridors of the Aurora is not a fun experience. He is rambling on about something that Lyf doesn’t have the patience to actually listen to, especially when he’s this ill-at-ease. He has the distinct feeling that they’re being followed, but he can’t be sure. Every time he looks behind him, nothing is there.   
The rest of the ship seems pretty soundly deserted. He hasn’t seen hide nor hair of Alexandria or la Cognizi or any other person who might be part of their insufferable crew. It’s only a matter of time before one of them comes out of the woodwork to bug him even more than Von Raum is doing now, still blathering away and looking like he might produce a violin out of who-knows-where to start with his infernal singing. Honestly, what’s wrong with this man?  
Lyfrassir hears something behind him and whirls around, catching a glimpse of the tail end of… something. His hand drifts towards the laser gun he’d taken with him when he’d fled Midgard. It only had one charge left, which he’d been saving… just in case. It certainly won’t do much good against Von Raum, given the fact that him and his comrades seem to be immune to death, but perhaps whatever is following them isn’t like them. He can only hope.  
Von Raum finally seems to notice that Lyfrassir has not been paying attention to a goddamn word he’s said for the past few minutes. His eyes follow Lyf’s arm down to the gun at his waist.  
“Are you going to kill me Inspector? You of all people should know at this point that it won’t stick.” He grins even more insufferably than the last time.  
“I do know that, Von Raum, I’m not an idiot. There’s something following us.”  
“Something following us?” Marius looks puzzled, “How tired are you, Lyf?”  
“There was something behind us, I _saw_ it Von Raum!” Lyfrassir insists, taking a second to scowl back at Marius. Then he hears the noise again and pivots on his heel, draws his gun and fires his final shot off at whatever it is.  
He misses. Of course. But the resulting noise stuns the creature enough that it freezes in its tracks. It appears to be some sort of… cat. But with tentacles where its limbs should be.  
The furry little creature trembles and makes a soft mewing sound before fleeing back into the depths of the station, as far away from them as it could get.  
Von Raum bursts out laughing, “You… pffthahaha, I can’t believe you just… did that! Ooh, such a threatening little octokitten!” he braces himself against the wall as his body is wracked with laughter.  
“Oh shut the fuck up Von Raum.” Lyf points the gun at him, even though he just wasted the last charge. Von Raum doesn’t need to know that.   
Von Raum straightens himself up and wipes a tear out of his eye, “You’re just going to make me laugh more, Lyf. You know that little peashooter ain’t gonna do you much good.”  
“It’ll shut you up for half a goddamn second.”   
“Maybe so, but is that really worth the effort and the ammunition? I’m just trying to get you to a place you can rest. This might be a new concept to you, Inspector, but I am actually trying to be _nice_.” Von Raum is still smiling as he says this but there’s a little bit of unexpected bite to his words.   
Lyf lowers his gun with a sigh, “fine. Lead on.”  
“Thank you.” Von Raum sticks his nose in the air with a practiced theatricality that only someone who insists you call him “Baron” could properly muster. “Now, as I was saying…”  
Lyf tunes him out again and just trudges along behind him. He’d been running for so long from Yog-Sothoth that he hadn’t had time to think about how exhausted he was, but now that he’s about as safe as he’ll probably ever be again, the exhaustion is starting to make itself known. Even if he wanted to listen to Von Raum’s blathering, he wouldn’t be able to focus on it. At this point it’s all he can do to keep walking.   
And then, of course, he trips. Not even over anything lying in the corridor, just over his own feet, like an idiot. He’s prepared to hit the floor, but Von Raum has faster reflexes than he expects. He holds out an arm to catch him and hauls him back to his feet.   
“You really are tired, aren’t you, poor bastard? Come on, then.”  
And the next thing Lyf knows, he’s being scooped into a pair of mismatched arms. He tries to struggle against it, but his limbs are sluggish at best and even Von Raum’s flesh arm has a steel-tight grip on him.  
“Let me go, Von Raum, I’m fine. I just tripped.”  
“You’re a mess, Lyf, just take a load off. I’ll get you where you need to go.”  
“I don’t need to take a load off, I can walk just fine.”  
“If you don’t let me carry you, I will get my violin out and there _will_ be singing.”  
Lyf isn’t able to argue with this ultimatum. As much as he doesn’t want to be carried like a child through the bowels of this cat?-infested hellship, he wants Von Raum to sing even less. Von Raum seems very pleased with himself and Lyf once again regrets flagging down this ship. Eventually though, the rhythm of Von Raum’s steps accompanied by his utter exhaustion begin to lull him to sleep. He is only half-conscious when Von Raum finally stops to open a door and lay him gently down in a bed.  
“Rest well, Inspecta’ Lyf. Hope you don’t mind us tearing up your ship for scrap to repair the Aurora. Have a good nap!”  
If Lyf was more conscious, he would absolutely protest, but he just doesn’t have the energy at this point. _It’s not like it matters anyways. They’re going to do it regardless of my protests. Bastards._ And with that last thought, Lyfrassir lets himself slip fully into a fitful sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look, i'm gay and i think they're neat don't look at me


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marius tries to be nice, it's just that Lyf is so fun to bully. Sometimes though, Lyf bullies back

“Marius, you didn’t have to hijack the entire ship, you know.” Brian grumbles as he finishes picking pieces of himself up off the ground, “I would have turned around anyways! I’m not just going to leave a guy stranded in the middle of space!”  
“Sorry, Brian,” Marius at least has the tact to look a little guilty, “I didn’t have time to check your morality switch, I just kinda… attacked. You’re fine though, so all’s well that ends well, isn’t it?”  
“Says the one who isn’t picking literal pieces of himself off the ground.”  
“Oh, quit your pouting.” Marius waves him up  
“Once again, says the one who was just pouting a few days ago about having to leave a cop on Midgard for the apocalypse to eat.”  
Marius scowls, “That’s different. You dying isn’t permanent. And Lyf has always been a fantastic source of entertainment! Much better alive than dead. Just ask Raph and Ivy.”  
“Yes, yes, I definitely believe it was that and no other reason. You can go now... unless you want to help piece me back together?” Brian raises his eyebrows hopefully at Marius, and Marius, in a moment of temporary insanity, considers taking responsibility for his own actions. And then he decides against it almost immediately.  
“Nah! I’m gonna go check on Lyf, I just wanted to make sure you were fine, which you obviously are! Besides, I’m a doctor not an engineer!” Marius gives Brian a wave as he darts off back to the sick bay.  
“I don’t believe you’ve actually been to medical school, von Raum!” Brian calls after him. Marius flips him the bird, though by now he probably can’t see it.   
Lyfrassir hasn’t been asleep for very long, and given what he’d been through, he’ll probably be asleep for awhile yet, but that doesn’t stop Marius from checking in on him. He does have to admit that he’d grown rather fond of the cantankerous little bastard during his stint in New Midgard Prison. He was fun to rile up, just to see his face turn red; not to mention that little crease between his eyebrows he got when he scowled. Or the twitch in his eye when Marius produced his violin for another rowdy rendition of Tales to be Told.  
Ivy had insisted that this was a sign of amorous feelings for the inspector, but Marius begs to differ. You don’t meet many interesting people while you’re stuck in prison for 60 years, and Lyf was the most interesting of the people who came to see them often enough to make much of an impression. The other space cops had been so damn boring Marius can’t even remember their names. He doubted that even Ivy could, they had been that unremarkable.  
No, it definitely wasn’t an “amorous feelings” sort of situation. Marius liked to compare it more to that of a cat toying with a mouse. Or maybe just bothering a smaller cat. A Much smaller cat. One that gets every easily annoyed but has also been declawed so any time he tries to swat back at you, it has way less impact than he intends for it to have. Maybe eventually he’ll get bored, but he hasn’t gotten bored yet and so he intends to make that Inspector Lyf’s problem in the interim.  
Of course, he’ll let him rest first. Marius isn’t _completely_ heartless (unlike _some people_ ) and he knows that Lyf’s been through kind of a lot since he fled the literal end of his world and everything and everyone else he knew. He’d installed him in the ship’s sick bay for this exact reason: most of the others prefer to lick any non-lethal wounds they might have sustained on their own (really, what even is the point of having a doctor on the ship if you’re not going to put him to use? Just because Marius doesn’t have a _legal_ medical degree doesn’t mean he has _zero_ qualifications) so the sick bay is generally devoid of Mechanisms aside from Marius. Lyf will hopefully be unbothered there.  
  
Upon his return to the sick bay, Marius finds Lyf tossing and turning, as though deep in the throes of a violent nightmare. That probably isn’t surprising, given that he had narrowly escaped being ripped apart by an eldritch god of eternal madness, but Marius still feels kind of bad for him. He leans over him and places a gentle hand on his shoulder, hoping to gently shake him awake, but unfortunately Lyf is apparently a very light sleeper. His eyes snap open with a yelp the second Marius touches him, which might have been cute except for the fact that at the same time he lashes out and straight-up punches Marius in the face.  
Marius groans and doubles over, clutching at his face as Lyf slowly comes to his senses.  
“God, Lyf I was just trying to ease you out of that nightmare, I think you broke my nose!”  
“Aw, poor immortal space pirate,” Marius can practically hear them rolling their eyes, “Here, let me have a look at that.”  
Marius looks up, puzzled, only for Lyf to give him another blow to the face. This one has less force behind it since Lyf’s in a less panicked state but it is still not altogether a pleasant feeling.   
Lyf flexes their hand like punching Marius had hurt him as well, “God I’ve been wanting to do that since the day I met you.”  
“You are so mean to me, Inspector Lyf.” Marius pouts at him, but he can’t really complain since he’s had literally hundreds of much worse injuries. His nose is already healing itself.   
Lyf pinches the bridge of his own nose, somehow looking even more exhausted than he did when he was falling all over himself in the hallway. Marius gives him a gentle pat on the shoulder.  
“Lay back down, Lyf. I’ll get you some tea, see if that doesn’t put your nerves at ease.”  
Lyf regards him with suspicion, as though he expects Marius to poison him. Marius is offended, he’s not that bad at making tea. He usually only put poison in it if he was serving it to Jonny.  
“I think a bottle of whiskey and a cigarette would do me far better than a cup of tea.”  
“I think a nice cup of green tea would be a whole lot healthier, but what do I know? It’s not like I’m the ship’s doctor or anything.”  
“You’re the ship’s doctor? I thought you were the resident jester. Sorry, easy mistake to make.”  
“You seem grouchier than usual. Let’s compromise: I’ll get you a cup of tea and a cigarette, and then you go the fuck back to sleep Mr. Grouchypants.”  
Lyf rolls his eyes, “Fine, just never call me Mr. Grouchypants ever again.”  
“As you wish, Sir Grouchypants,” Marius grins and gives an exaggerated bow before setting off on his fetch quest for tea and tobacco.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inspector Lyf loose on the Aurora, what will he find?

Marius knows he can’t keep Lyf away from the rest of the Mechs forever. Or vice-versa. The rest of the crew has already been ragging on him for the past few days, every time they see him carry a tray to the sick bay or even head in the general direction of the sick bay. Ivy has once again taken to insisting that these are signs that Marius “has affection for the former inspector” whatever the fuck that means. He just figures that Lyf doesn’t want to deal with the rest of these chucklefucks when Marius himself is perfect company. Besides, interactions with the other Mechs are likely to have results that are hazardous to Lyf’s health.  
Eventually though, Lyf does get sick of being cooped up in the sick bay and begins to wander the ship. Marius, admittedly freaks out a little when he finds the sick bay once again devoid of life.   
He does his best to keep calm as he wanders the halls, occasionally peeking into doorways to see if his wayward inspector has gotten into trouble behind any of them.  
Lyf _has_ gotten into trouble of course, but thankfully it doesn’t appear to be the type of trouble that ends with gore and offal all over the floor. No, instead Marius finds him frozen in a doorway standing directly across from the Toy Soldier, who is grinning its usual unnerving wooden grin.  
Marius waits for a second to see what will happen, but after a minute of them both staring at each other in tense silence, he gets bored and claps Lyf on the shoulder. Lyf practically jumps out of his skin, and probably makes a new record for how high above the floor his head has ever been, which maybe isn’t saying much given that he wasn’t the tallest to begin with.  
“Von Raum! Christ, you scared me!” Lyf clutches at his chest like he’s afraid he’s about to have a heart attack, which, if Marius was being honest, that wouldn’t be surprising. When he was in prison he’d seen the man drink five cups of coffee in a single hour. Marius was fairly certain he actually hadn’t slept in about 20 years prior to the 24-earth-hour nap he’d taken after he’d first arrived.  
“Sorry, didn’t mean to cause you to lose your staring contest. What are you doing having a staring contest with the Toy Soldier anyways? I’m not actually certain it can blink so you were going to lose regardless.”  
“You… know this thing????” Lyf looks between the Toy Soldier and Marius, seemingly puzzled.  
“Yeah, it just kind of… wanders in sometimes. Jonny has tried to get rid of it more times than even Ivy could probably count, let alone the rest of us. But it always finds a way back to us. Most of us are rather fond of it.”  
The Toy Soldier cocks its head at them and its grin somehow seems to get wider without actually moving, “Did I Really Win? Oh, Jolly Good! Do I Get A Prize?”  
Lyf flinches, seemingly surprised by the fact that it could speak.  
“Er… yeah, TS, your prize is another game. You’re going to play hide and seek and Jonny is it. Don’t let him find you or he will definitely throw you out the airlock. Again. For the 5th time this month.”  
“Fan-tastic!” The wooden man snaps off a smart salute at Marius and marches off to go find a hiding spot.  
“What the fuck was that?” Lyf whispers to him as the Toy Soldier rounds a corner and disappears further into the ship.  
“I already told you, that’s the Toy Soldier. Honestly, at this point I’m astonished that you find anything strange at this point after dealing with us for years and then surviving an eldritch apocalypse. Like… there was some pretty graphic stuff on that black box and you’re afraid of _the Toy Soldier_? Aside from Brian and, of course, yours truly, the Toy Soldier is like the least harmful of us… as long as no one commanded it to kill you.”  
“Oh, thanks, von Raum, that’s reassuring.”  
Marius shrugs nonchalantly, “I try, dear inspector. Anyways, if you _had_ been killed, it would have been your own fault. You shouldn’t be wandering around the ship on your own. This place is kind of a hellhole, even for those of us who _are_ immortal.”  
“I was bored.” Lyf pouts and the little pang that hits Marius like a sack of bricks to the chest is Definitely annoyance and Not any other type of emotion. He scowls accordingly.  
“Well I’m sure you won’t be bored when you’re scraping your own entrails off the floor.”  
“Aren’t you a doctor or something? Wouldn’t that be your job?”  
“There’s not much I can do if you’ve actually been disemboweled.”  
“What good are you as a doctor then? Can’t even fix a disemboweling?”  
Marius closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a deep breath, “Wow, you’re really annoying sometimes, do you know that, _Former_ Inspector Lyf?”  
“I got lessons from the best.” Lyf pauses briefly, Marius can only assume for dramatic effect, “How the turns have tabled, von Raum.”  
Marius can’t help but laugh, “How long were you saving that one up?”  
“Until I could finally annoy you enough to be able to say it. I was expecting to have to wait far longer than this, if I’m being honest. Kind of assumed someone as annoying as you would be immune to being annoyed by other people. I’m pleasantly surprised to learn I was wrong. Now I just have to learn all the best buttons to push.”  
Marius almost chokes on his own tongue. Was that… _flirting_? There’s no way... is there? He shakes his head to clear that thought away. Surely not. This is Lyfrassir Edda we’re talking about. Marius refuses to let that thought shake him. So he does the logical thing and flirts back (even if the initial flirtation was Definitely Not meant as flirtation.)  
“You can push all the buttons you like, Inspector.” he gives a cheeky wink, “But now that you’ve revealed your plan, I’m not going to let it be that easy for you again.”  
Lyf’s ears have gone bright red and Marius is pleased with his work. He allows himself a self-satisfied smirk.   
Unfortunately, it’s a short-lived victory as Jonny stumbles across them right at that second and gives a prolonged and very loud groan.  
“For christ’s sake von Raum, get a fucking room.”  
Lyf takes the interruption as an opportunity to take a step away from him. Marius for his part hadn’t even noticed how close to each other they had been standing before that.   
“I’m going back to the sick bay. Don’t-” Lyf points a stern finger to cut Marius off as he’s opening his mouth, “-follow me. I know how to get back.”  
And with that he strides off, leaving Marius much more frustrated and confused than he had been before. Jonny gives him a side-eyed look with his lips pursed like he’s trying to look innocent when that’s the last word anyone would ever use to describe Jonny fucking D’Ville.  
“Ooh, sorry Marius, did I ruin your little cuddle session?”  
“Oh, can it, D’Ville, nothing was happening.”  
“Nothing at all? You two were certainly standing awfully close to each other.”  
“Yeah and in a second my fist is going to stand awfully close to your face. The metal one.”  
“Aren’t you a doctor or something? Whatever happened to ‘do no harm’?”  
“Y’know, I think they skipped over that part when giving me my degree.”  
“Well, don’t you put the hypocrite in Hippocratic Oath,” Jonny grins at his own joke, which is just as well since Marius sure as hell isn’t laughing. “Oh come on, that was a good one! Loads better than the mindfield joke! And I’d been building that one up for _years_!”  
“Fuck you, D’Ville,” Marius judiciously decides to ignore him and turns on his heel to go literally anywhere where Jonny wasn’t.  
Jonny doesn’t follow, as he is too busy grumbling to himself about how no one appreciates his genius puns.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lyf doesn't avoid his problems, alcohol is just his first attempt at a solution. It has to work one of these times

Lyf isn’t  _ avoiding _ Marius, it’s just that he happened to be spending a lot more time out of the sick bay than in it for the last few days following their… previous encounter.  He kept thinking about their interaction, going through it over and over again. And despite his best efforts, it doesn't seem like his brain was going to let him stop anytime soon. It was an… uncomfortable situation, to say the least. And he’s probably making it more uncomfortable by avoiding von Raum-- not that he’s doing that, he’s not! He just finds wandering the halls of the Aurora to be oddly calming, despite his two previous encounters with the strange hodgepodge of the ship’s inhabitants. 

Lyf finds it reassuring that he’s managed to meet most of the other Mechanisms in his wanderings and was still alive to tell the tale. He has already resolved not to think too hard about the absolutely obnoxious amount of “octokittens” and even larger, more obnoxious amount of spiders infesting the entire ship. At least the kittens are kind of cute, but he also isn’t sure they’re not radioactive, so he tends to avoid them if he can help it. Not that it probably matters that much. Who knows what he’d been exposed to when he’d fled Midgard? Even now, if he thinks too hard about Yog-Sothoth and what he saw in the Black Box footage, he can almost feel the countless, unknowable tendrils of flesh and madness wrapping around him, trying to pull him back. As though the mad swirl of shifting colors sliding like cold blood through unseen veins is unknowably angry,  _ enraged _ that he escaped. He can’t shake the feeling that the Bifrost is clinging to him, like he walked through a spider web that he would never be able to brush away.

He’s really trying not to think about what that could mean.

Unfortunately, it’s hard not to think about how you might still be consumed by an eternal being of the void when you’re avoiding the person who provides the biggest distraction. Wait. Not avoiding. Lyf  _ is not avoiding von Raum _ . He just wants to think about what Marius might have construed from the use of the phrase “all the right buttons” even less than he wants to think about the unshakable fear the Bifrost has instilled in him.

Now he’s thinking about both of those things, though.

Lyf heaves a heavy sigh. He knows he’s being stupid. Von Raum is certainly the lesser of the two evils. Hell, he can’t even be classified as an “evil” compared to the shivering, indescribable horror he’d been through. He is an annoyance at most. And Lyf had to admit he is growing on him. Not that he’d say that out loud, of course, and certainly not to Von Raum’s face. That would just make his ego that much bigger.

Lyf is pulled from his musings about von Raum by a tap on his shoulder. He manages not to jump at the unexpected touch and turns to find Nastya, or as he likes to refer to her, the cooler violinist. That wasn’t saying much given how much of a nuisance Von Raum was, but he liked her well enough.

“Excuse me, Former Inspector Lyf, I thought it would be a good idea to inform you that we’re going to be landing tomorrow. There’s a planet nearby where we intend to remain for a while. At Least until Jonny gets us kicked off and probably longer. I just thought you should know in case you would like to disembark. I know we can be… a lot. Also, a forewarning, tomorrow night Will be date night, and it is highly recommended you not be present on the ship.” She gives him a wink as though he’s supposed to know what the hell that means and walks away.

Lyf watches after her, trying to ignore the pit in his stomach at the thought of stopping. He’d been running away for so long at this point that the idea of being stuck on a planet for an indefinite amount of time put him on edge. 

God, he needs a drink.

*

Many drinks later Lyf is lying on the floor of the ship’s galley trying to stop the world from spinning. Being drunk is not the solution he’d hoped it would be. Instead it just pulled his attention from the cold dread settled in his stomach to the hollow, aching sadness in his heart. Everything he ever knew and loved had been swallowed up. And he had run away. Up to this point he’d managed to keep the sorrow, the disgust at himself, and the hopelessness at bay. But the whiskey had broken down that dam and there was no way to stop those feelings from pouring out of him. 

“Why’re You Lying On The Floor?” The Toy Soldier leans over him, still smiling wide as always.

“Because I’m sad.” 

“Oh! I’m Sad Too!” it doesn’t sound or look sad in any way shape or form. “May I Join You?”

“Uh… sure. I guess.” Lyf is absolutely baffled by this development but the Toy Soldier doesn’t seem to have any such qualms. It lays down rigidly beside him, doing a flawless impression of a doll left on the floor by a careless child.

Lyf doesn’t bother to keep track of how long they lay there like that, side-by-side. He is too busy fighting the overwhelming urge to hug the wooden man, despite how uncomfortable that would probably be. He can’t remember the last time he was this physically close to anyone, except when Von Raum had carried him to the sick bay the first day he was on the ship. 

He presses his cheek against the cool, smooth wood of the Toy Soldier’s shoulder and closes his eyes, letting his tears flow freely.

It’s a while before Lyf’s wallowing is interrupted once again by a boot nudging his face. He opens his eyes to find Jonny glowering down on him.

“What the fuck are you two doing?”

“Being Sad!” The Toy Soldier chirps cheerfully, “Would You Like To Join Us?”

“Fuck no, that’s disgusting.” Jonny’s scowl deepens, “Christ, Edda, I expect this type of shit from the Toy Soldier but you at least should have the decency to wallow in the sick bay instead of in public. Go back to your room before I call Von Raum to drag you back there.”

Lyf struggles to his feet, blood rushing to his head so fast he has to grab the table while the black spots in his vision subside.

“Yes, sir, c- what are you? The Captain??” Lyf squints at him, trying to remember what exactly Jonny does on this hellship.

“Captain’s correct,” Jonny says too quickly for it to be true, “Don’t let anyone tell you different.”  
“He’s The First Mate!” The Toy Soldier replies helpfully from the floor.

Jonny bends down and picks it up, heaving it over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, “You get to live for now, Edda, but don’t let me catch you doing that bullshit again. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have something to throw out of the airlock.”

Lyf decides it’s best not to argue and manages to stumble his way back to the sick bay and curl up in the bed. If nothing else, the alcohol knocks him out soundly, keeping the nightmares away for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one got a little heavy, sorry about that. I promise next chapter will be a bit more lighthearted


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lyf and Marius make a daring escape from the dreaded date night. It doesn't quite go as planned.

Marius is rather surprised to find Lyf in the sick bay when he goes to check. He’d checked in a few other times, but it was pretty clear that Lyf was avoiding him, which was fair enough, he supposed. Still, it did make waiting for Brian to find a planet to land on that much more boring so it was a nice relief to see Lyf actually in his room for once. 

Lyf, for his part, looks like hell, his long hair falling loose in tangles around his shoulders, his shirt rumpled more than usual… which was a feat given that Marius was pretty sure he regularly slept in his work uniform when they were back on Midgard. 

“Good morning, Inspector Lyf!” Marius decides to go for a bit of levity with his usual greeting.

Lyf closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, “Would you mind keeping it down, Von Raum? My head is killing me”

“Ah, sure thing,” Marius lowers his voice, “Can I do anything to help? I don’t mean to brag or anything but I am a doctor.”

Lyf exhales sharply from his nose which Marius decides to interpret at a laugh, “It’s a hangover, Von Raum, I’ve had plenty. I can handle it.”

“If you say so.” Marius holds up his hands in a gesture of surrender, “I just wanted to check that you knew we’ll be landing shortly.”

Lyf shifts uncomfortably and nods, “Nastya told me. She also told me that tonight was… ‘date night’? What does that mean?”

“Oh christ Lyf, date night?? We have to go right now, I am not going to risk dying before date night starts. Happened to Jonny once and he got stuck on the ship that night and I think it made him even crazier, if that’s possible.” Marius doesn’t even think about it, he just grabs Lyf’s hand and makes a break for the escape pods. Lyf just kind of lets himself be dragged along, as though his mind is still sluggish from whatever he was drinking last night.

“You didn’t answer my fucking question, Von Raum!” he sounds indignant, probably at least partly because Marius has dragged him into one of the available escape pods and is already setting coordinates towards their target planet.

“Nastya is… In a relationship with Aurora.” Marius says, “Date nights get… weird. So we choose to just… not be there most of the time.”

“Oh…. ah.” Lyf gets a weird look on his face like he’s trying to figure out how that could possibly work.

“Don’t think about it too much.” Marius shakes his head, “You already have a headache.”

“...Right. Finally some good doctorly advice.”

“Oh, sod off,” he laughs softly and looks back at Lyf as the escape pod launches. He looks a little panicked at the movement, gripping onto the wall so tight his knuckles turn white. “Are you okay? This doesn’t seem like normal hangover behavior.”

“I’m fine. Just… queasy.” So that was definitely a lie.

“Queasy and on-the-brink-of-a-panic-attack result in very different facial expressions, Lyfrassir.” Marius raises his eyebrows at him.

“You don’t know what my queasy face looks like!” Lyf scowls at him, a notable improvement over the expression he’d had on his face just seconds before.

“Incorrect, I saw your queasy face a whole lot because you were a workaholic and would come to work even when you were sick. Including that one time--”

Lyf puts his hand over Marius’s mouth to shut him up and takes a deep breath.

“Okay, yes, fine, you don’t need to bring that up, thanks. Christ, you get food poisoning  _ one time _ and no one ever lets you live it down.”

Marius gently pushes Lyf’s hand away from his mouth so that he can give a wide grin.

“Don’t look at me like that, Von Raum.”

“Look at you like what? I’m not looking at you in any particular way.”

“Wipe that damn smirk off your face or I’ll do it for you.”

“Ooh, cheeky! Is that a threat, Lyfrassir? Are you sure you can reach that high?”

“Are you  _ trying _ to get me to punch you?”

“No, I’d prefer you didn’t, but you just make it too easy to get you riled up. I can’t help it sometimes. You get the cutest little wrinkle between your brows, right there.” Marius touches the small furrow in his brows.

“I’m going to bite your finger off if you don’t move it right now.”

Marius obliges because he’s fairly certain that Lyf will do exactly that if he doesn’t, “You really are cranky today. Are you suuuuure there’s nothing wrong?”

Lyf pinches the bridge of his nose, “Nothing I feel like telling you, especially if you’re going to make fun of me about it.”

“Hey, I’m not going to make fun of something that’s actually bothering you. I know I’m a prat, but I’m not  _ that  _ much of one. Besides, it’s way better to get things off your chest than to bottle them up. That leads to all sorts of bad shit. Look at Jonny. The man is a walking ball of emotional constipation and he’s committed almost every crime in the known universe.”

Lyf seems to ponder this for a second, “You… do have a point there.” He takes a deep breath, “Look, it’s just that--”

He is cut off by the commlink on the pod crackling to life.

“Spacepod 46290, you are being hailed by Interplanetary control. Do you copy?”

Marius rolls his eyes, and grumbles “space cops” under his breath, which Lyf looks slightly offended by. The look of consternation is promptly ignored as Marius presses the button to speak back: “Spacepod 46290, responding. We’re looking to land shortly ahead of our main ship, the Aurora. Wanted to get a jump start on sightseeing.”

Marius goes through the motions of getting landing permissions until the agent on the commlink asks him a question he was not prepared for: “And the names of you and your passenger sir?”

Lyf opens his mouth to answer at the same time Marius does and the name that comes out of both of their mouths is “Edda.” Lyf gives him a sharp look but Marius waves him off. It was the first name that popped into his head that wasn’t his own, so he was going to go with it despite Lyf’s glare.

“That’s right, E-D-D-A. That’s Mr. and Mr. Edda.” Lyf’s scowl deepens at this, “Marius and Lyfrassir. We’re… on our honeymoon.”

“Oh, well… congratulations.” The agent sounds bored, as though they don’t really care about their romantic newlywed getaway, “We’ll check your IDs when you arrive at the planetside. Please have them ready.”

“Will do. Thank you!” Marius presses a button to end the transmission and takes out his personal commwire to ask Ashes for the appropriate paperwork and so he can avoid looking at Lyf.

**_MVR:_ ** _ Hey, Ashes, can you get me and Lyf some paperwork? _

**_AOR:_ ** _ Let me guess, they asked you for your names and you both said “Edda”? _

**_MVR:_ ** _ ….. Perhaps. _

**_AOR:_ ** _ And you told them you were married, didn’t you? _

**_MVR:_ ** _ MAYBE SO O’REILLY CAN I JUST GET THE PAPERWORK _

**_AOR:_ ** _ You so owe me, loverboy. _

Ashes wires him the paperwork without any further comment, which Marius appreciates and he pockets the commwire. Now he doesn’t really have a choice but to look up at Lyf, who has not stopped glowering at him the whole time.

“Don’t give me that look, I panicked. Besides the other choice is to go in guns blazing and there is no guarantee you wouldn’t get hurt if I did that.”

Lyf presses his lips together and takes a deep breath, “I hate you, von Raum.”

“I know you do.”

“Let’s just get this over with then.”

*

The second they touch down, Lyf’s demeanor changes in a way that is genuinely frightening to Marius. A hand slips into his own and it takes Marius a second to realize that it’s  _ Lyf’s _ because he didn’t actually think that would ever be a thing Lyf would do voluntarily. Marius looks down at him, not sure how to react. Lyf looks back up at him with an innocent expression on his face.

“Whatever could be the matter, my  _ dear _ husband?” Oh. Okay. He’s just… going with the flow. Okay. Marius could handle that. He’s about to reply with something snarky but just then the pod door slides open and an agent is holding out their hand and asking for IDs. Marius goes to reach for his commwire in his pocket, but Lyf’s other hand is already sliding into his coat to grab it before he can.

“Here you go officer.” Lyf hands the commwire off to the agent and runs his thumb across Marius’s knuckles as though the agent would even see a gesture that small.

“Hmm…” The agent peruses the paperwork and looks up at them, “Alright, Mr. and Mr. Edda, this all looks to be in order. Congratulations on your recent marriage. We hope you enjoy your stay.”

Lyf smiles wider than Marius has seen him smile before. He was beginning to think that Lyf was actually incapable of smiling, but here he is with a grin that could even rival the Toy Soldier’s.  _ Shit _ .

“Thank you! We’re so happy to be here, right Marius?” Lyf tugs on his hand to pull him down a little and  _ kisses him on the cheek _ .  _ That might actually have been the first time Lyf has called him by his first name.  _ Marius is certain he’s entered an alternate dimension. Or maybe Lyf has lost his mind. Unfortunately, Marius can’t ask which quite yet because he has to keep up the facade. He gives a smile of his own and leans his cheek against the top of Lyf’s head.

“Of course, honey.”  _ Fuck what the hell is happening why did he do this to himself??? _

The agent leaves the pod and Marius lets himself relax for half a second. Lyf, however, is apparently  _ not _ going to let him do that. He snakes an arm around Marius’s waist and pulls him closer against his side, standing on his tiptoes so his lips can reach Marius’s ear: “You better not be getting any fucking ideas, Von Raum.”

Marius is not getting any ideas because he’s pretty sure his brain has completely shut down.

“R-right. Well… after you sweetie,” he pushes Lyf gently forward so that he has a little more time to compose himself before following him off the ship. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please do not read too deep between the lines of that spacepod number. also rip in pieces marius


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All of the Mechanisms are absolutely insufferable and Lyf hates them all.

Lyf has finally found a way to get von Raum to shut his goddamn mouth. Amazing. Since their encounter with the transport agent, he’d been unusually quiet. They’d found the seediest tavern/inn in the whole city and installed themselves for a few awkward hours before the rest of the crew (save Nastya, who has presumably stayed with Aurora) arrived.

Jonny promptly proceeds to shoot the bartender and together the rest of the mechs manage to kill every human in the bar except Lyf. He’s a little concerned that he’s not more concerned about this, but after everything else he’s been through, the Mechanisms aquiring an entire inn through murder was one of the least disturbing things he’d ever seen. 

Ashes goes upstairs to inspect the rooms and make sure no one else is there and Jonny barks an order at the Toy Soldier to start cleaning up, which it obeys after snapping a sharp salute. Brian elects to help it.

That leaves Raphaella, Ivy, and Tim to come harass Lyf and Marius.

“So, Von Raum, I heard you finally landed the inspector. Only took you, what? A couple decades?” Tim waggles his eyebrows at von Raum and von Raum takes it as an opportunity to punch his mechanical arm clean through Tim’s chest.

“Fuck off, Tim.” He flicks some gore off his hand and gives a challenging look at Ivy and Raphaella, who are both grinning wildly, “You two fuck off too.”

“We didn’t say anything!” Raphaella held her hands up, “We just wanted to say congratulations to the happy couple!”

Von Raum swipes at her, but she darts away, using her wings to give her more speed. Marius doesn’t seem to have the energy to keep going after her and sits back down at the bar.

Ivy, ever the brains of the group, goes for the less murderous target and raises her eyebrows at Lyf, a smirk playing around the edges of her lips.

“I have to say I’m a little surprised you’re still with us, Former Inspector Lyfrassir. I calculated an approximately 74 percent chance that you would leave us as soon as we landed.”

Lyf has to admit, he’s a little surprised he’s still here too.

“I…” Lyf wasn’t sure how to explain it in a way that wouldn’t sound completely unreasonable to someone whose brain was mechanical, “I don’t want to stop moving yet. And I don’t have any valid currency on me so you guys are a free ride as far away from Midgard and the Yggdrasil system as possible.”

Ivy is quiet for a while, but she nods contemplatively, “I shall readjust my calculations with that information in mind then. Thank you, Former Inspector.”

“That was… a more pleasant conversation that I expected, if I’m being honest.”

“Well I was going to tell you that I had calculated an almost 100% chance of any possible romantic liaison between you and Von Raum taking far longer, but I was more curious about why you hadn’t left.”

“Alexandria,” The way Marius growls her name is enough of a threat to get her to back away from the bar.

“Okay, okay, I’m going. Cheers to the happy couple!” She jets off almost as fast as Raphaella did.

The Toy Soldier, who is busy pushing bodies across the floor with a push broom (which is not actually very helpful and in fact is spreading little bits of gore and offal all over the place) perks up at Ivy’s words.

“Wait A Minute. Who’s The Happy Couple?”

“Oh, you didn’t hear, TS? Marius and Lyf got married today!” Tim picks himself up off the floor and dodges Marius’s metal fist this time.

The Toy Soldier’s expression doesn’t change but somehow it now exudes an air of sadness, “You Two Got Married And You Didn’t Invite Me To The Wedding? I Thought We Were Friends! I Don’t Know If You Know This About Me, But I Like Very Much To Be Involved!”

“Aw, TS, it’s not like that,” Marius says, standing up to pat it on the shoulder, “We’re not actually married, they’re making fun of us.”

“Why Would They Do That?!” It truly is bizarre how something can sound so chagrined and yet still be smiling.

“Because they’re assholes.”

“Oh! Of Course! I Was Aware Of That!” it perks up again, “Well, Congratulations On Your Marriage!” it continues to sweep bodies across the floor.

“We’re not actually…” Lyf decides it’s not actually worth it to correct it. 

Ashes comes back downstairs a few minutes later.

“Alright, listen up wankers, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is we’re Officially alone. The bad news is that there’s actually only four bedrooms in this shitty little inn so we’re going to have to share.”

Lyf pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. Of course. Just his luck.

“The other good news is that Von Raum and Edda owe me a favor, so I have judiciously decided that they’re going to be roommates. Feel free to fight among yourselves over who gets the honor of being my roommate.”

Lyf throws himself over the bar to take cover as the guns come out. He has no idea how everyone pulling out guns is going to help this situation but he also really doesn’t want to know. When the shots die down and the smoke clears, Jonny appears to have won the honor of being Ashes’ roommate. Tim is helping to reassemble Brian, which Lyf takes to mean they’ve resolved to share. Raphaella is hovering like a giant eagle above everyone with Ivy in her arms, so that makes four pairs counting Lyf and Marius. Somehow, in the chaos, someone had hung the Toy Soldier on the coat rack, where it seemed perfectly content to stay. Marius seems to have watched the whole spectacle from his seat at the bar, sipping contentedly from a glass of whiskey that Lyf could have sworn he hadn’t had before the gunfight.

“As mortifying as it is, it’s also kind of nice to be pre-assigned a roommate. Much fewer gunshot wounds,” Marius muses.

“Alright, well, that settles that,” Ashes nods and goes behind the counter to retrieve the room keys. They toss one to Lyf, which he fumbles to catch.

“Have fun, you two,” They wink and Lyf  _ knows _ this is not going to end well for him. He doesn’t know what Ashes is planning but it certainly can’t be good. Marius rolls his eyes at them and stands up.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m about ready to head to bed already.”

Lyf actually finds himself agreeing with Von Raum, which was certainly a sign that he’s going mad. He decides not to dwell on that and hops back over the bar. It is not as smooth a jump as his first, of course, and he almost falls face-first onto the bloodstained floor before Von Raum catches the back of his shirt and sets him on his feet.

“Oooh~” Tim crows from behind them, “How suave, Marius!”

“Next time I kill you, I am going to remove all of your organs and feed them to Jonny” Marius snarls.

“Gross!” Jonny complains, “As if I would ever eat  _ Tim _ .”

“I am no longer part of this conversation. Von Raum, if you’re not coming up right now you’re sleeping outside.” Lyf has decided he’s had quite enough of the Mechanisms for one day and turns on his heel to head up to their assigned room. Marius follows behind him, ignoring the howls of laughter and the wolf-whistles the rest of the crew is making after them.

Ashes’ plan becomes crystal clear to him the second he unlocks the door and he has to resist the urge to go back downstairs and try to strangle them. They assigned them this room on purpose. Of course they did, they had to have. 

There was only one fucking bed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fanfic trope city babey!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THINGS ARE GETTING SPICY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to shout out the Mechs discord server for all their help so far with this silly, silly fic  
> I love you guys <3

"So… are you gonna kill Ashes or do you want me to?" Marius asks. He's plenty ready to do it himself but he figures he should offer Lyf first blood, to be polite.

Lyf sighs, digs a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, and opens the window, leaning against the sill as he lights one.

"I'm beginning to think it's not worth the effort." He takes a nice long drag and Marius is Definitely Not looking at his lips, not at all. "I'll just sleep on the floor."

Marius blinks, "No. You don't have to do that. I'll sleep on the floor."

Lyf snorts a little and blows some smoke out the window, "Whoever said chivalry is dead? Look, the floor is fine for me."

"You can barely get a full night's sleep in a bed, you're not going to sleep a wink on the floor."

"What, you've been watching me sleep?"

Marius scowls. "No, you idiot, I have a pair of fully functional eyes and every time I see you, you look like you're about to pass out on your feet. Even if I wasn't a doctor it would be pretty obvious that you haven't slept well in a long time."

Lyf doesn't respond until he's finished his cigarette and finally heaves another sigh. "Look, it's a big bed. Just… stay on your side and we won't have a problem. I'm going to take a shower.” He flicks his cigarette butt out the window and heads for the bathroom.

Marius doesn’t want to give Ashes the satisfaction of getting a rise out of him but his other option is to sit around and wait while Lyf is in the shower and he doesn’t want to do that for more reasons than he can count. So killing Ashes it is. 

By the time he’s done with that (and with killing everyone else at least once for good measure) he needs a shower himself. He’s so saturated in blood that it’s seeping out of his boots. He figures it’d be rude to track all that into the room so he leaves his boots and socks outside the door and resolves to do his best not to let his clothes drip.

It occurs to him to knock a split-second before he opens the door and stops himself just in time.

“You can come in,” Lyf responds to his quick rap on the door.

He’s sitting on the bed, braiding his wet hair to the side. He’d found a pair of drawstring trousers somewhere, and a clean shirt, which he’s left unbuttoned. Marius doesn’t-- _ cannot _ \-- let himself think about that too hard.

“You look like hell, Von Raum. How many times did you kill them?” he raises an eyebrow as he finishes his braid.

“Got everyone at least once. Where’d you get those clothes?”

Lyf gestures to the wardrobe in the room.

“Whoever was staying here before us conveniently left all their things. Figured he wouldn’t miss them much. They’re a bit big on me, but I think they should fit you okay. Because we are  _ not _ sharing a bed if you’re planning on leaving those clothes on.” Lyf pauses and closes his eyes with a long slow exhale, “Do  _ not _ make a joke about that.”

Marius grins, “I wouldn’t dream of it, Inspector. I was planning on taking a shower anyways, so I’ll change after.” 

Lyf just nods and reclines on the bed.

~

Once Marius has scrubbed as much of the blood off of himself as he can, he pokes his head out of the bathroom door. Lyf has installed himself under the covers, seemingly already asleep. He’d laid out some clothes for Marius on the unoccupied side of the bed.

Marius creeps out of the bathroom, trying not to be too loud in case Lyf really is sleeping. He gets dressed with his back toward the bed. Then he works up the nerve to ease himself onto his side of the bed, facing the wall. He doesn’t bother with the covers, partly to leave a slightly more tangible barrier between them and partly because he tends to run hot anyways, especially when sleeping.

It’s a long time before he actually manages to fall asleep. Every slight movement Lyf makes moves him closer and closer to Marius. At this point he  _ has _ to be asleep, because there’s no way he’d be getting closer if he was awake. They aren’t touching yet, but Marius can feel Lyf’s body heat through the blanket.

It’s a miracle when he finally does drift off.

His dreams are strange, shifting, nebulous. Like his brain is floating in a sea and something keeps brushing against it, triggering vague images that fade quickly. Deep brown eyes; the rainbow light of the bifrost; a face, stubbled chin, dark circles under tired eyes; a lonely ship drifting through space that morphs into the Aurora, and then the Ratatosk Express and then bursts into an explosion of colors so intense they tear into his brain and he’s hot, so hot and--

Marius jolts awake and something on top of him shifts and makes a small noise of discomfort.

It takes him a full minute to calm down enough to realize that the weight on his chest is in fact Lyfrassir, who is clinging to him like an octokitten to Jonny’s face. Somehow he’s managed to wrap Marius in the blankets and is absolutely conked out on top of the cozy pile he’s made. Marius isn’t sure he could move if he wanted to. Which he, in fact, does because he’s overheating beneath the blankets and the heat of another body. He would normally avoid waking Lyf up if he could help it, but he needs him to move.

“Lyf.” It comes out quieter than he’d hoped and Lyf keeps snoozing soundly. Marius does his best to shift under him to jolt him awake and tries again, louder, “Lyf, could you get off me?”

Lyf moves a little bit and makes another noise at the discomfort of being shifted.

“ _ Lyf _ , as much as I appreciate the cuddles, you’re kind of suffocating me, wake  _ up _ .” Marius tries again to displace him and manages to topple Lyf from the top of the pile with an indignant “Oomph!”

Marius struggles out of the blankets and opens the window wide to cool himself down. When he looks back at Lyf, he’s sitting up, looking confused and groggy. His unbuttoned shirt is hanging off one shoulder and little strands of hair are coming out of his braid. Fuck. Marius shouldn’t have looked.

“What the hell was that?” Lyf mumbles, rubbing at his eyes.

“I think you tried to kill me in my sleep.” Marius replies weakly, trying to keep his eyes trained on Lyf’s face and not anywhere else.

Lyf blinks slowly at him for a second then gives a wide yawn, “Yeah… Sounds about right… You okay? Your face is all red…”

“Yeah, you were just smothering me with the blankets. I’d much rather you hog them next time. I’m plenty warm without them.” Marius purposely doesn’t mention any of the other reasons his face is so red.

“Mm… yeah, you are kind of hot.” Lyf’s eyes are drooping again but he furrows his borw as he fights to stay awake, “Wait, that’s not how I meant that.”

Marius doesn’t have the heart to tease him while he’s not awake enough to appreciate it. Besides, he himself is flustered enough.

“I know you didn’t, Lyf--”

“I mean… not that you’re not hot. You are, like objectively.”

Marius hadn’t thought his face could get any warmer. He was wrong.

“Go back to sleep, Lyf. You’re already most of the way there.”

Lyf nods sleepily and flops back down onto the bed. He’s snoring softly within the minute.

Marius takes another deep breath of night air and then shuts the window and pulls the covers over Lyf. He’s certain he won’t be able to sleep again after  _ that _ so instead he heads downstairs to the bar.

To his surprise, Brian is there, seemingly spacing the hell out. Marius gives the drumbot a gentle nudge as he sits down to let him know that he’s there.

“Can’t sleep?” He inquires.

Brian nods, “Not really feeling it. Jonny found the Toy Soldier under his bed a while ago and threw a temper tantrum. Somehow he ended up in our room and I think he and Tim are now planning to blow up this planet’s moon. As usual.”

“Are we sure that’s not a euphemism for something?” Marius muses, “‘Hey baby, can I blow up your moon? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.’”

“Ugh, gross, Marius,” Brian snorts.

Marius laughs, “Sorry, sometimes I just can’t help it.”

They sit in comfortable silence for a few minutes as Marius builds up the courage to say what’s on his mind.

“You’re on Boring Brian mode, right? Can I tell you something that you probably already know?”

“Well if you’re going to call me Boring Brian, absolutely not.”

Marius heaves a long-suffering sigh, “Okay, okay, you’re on  _ Nice _ Brian mode, right?”

“Yes.”

“Can you pretend to be surprised when I tell you this?”

Brian sucks in a breath he doesn’t need through metal teeth, “You want Nice Brian  _ and _ you want me to lie? Do you  _ know _ nice Brian?”

Marius groans, “ _ Okay _ , then can you at least not make fun of me when I say this?”

“That, Nice Brian can do. So? What is it that I already know that you’re going to tell me anyway?”

Marius takes a deep breath and the truth finally forces its way out.

“I think I might be in love with Lyf.”

Brian blinks, looking surprised, which honestly surprises Marius.

“I thought you weren’t able to pretend to be surprised.”

“I’m not surprised about the  _ contents _ of what you said because I have eyes. And ears. I’m just surprised you’re actually in a place where you can admit it to yourself let alone someone else.”

Marius rubs his hands over his face with a groan, “I’m not a total closet case, Brian, I’ve known him for a long time.”

“I am also surprised you told me. Why did you tell  _ me _ ?”

Marius shrugs awkwardly, “I don’t know, I just… felt like I had to tell  _ someone _ or it was going to drive me mad. And you just happened to be here and were also probably the least likely to make fun of me as long as you had the right settings flipped.”

“So what now?”

“I don’t know!” Marius groans, “He’s just… funny and witty and  _ handsome _ and I want to  _ help  _ him and I’m just…” he finishes the sentence with a noise of frustration that could be the verbal equivalent of a keysmash.

“Well, unfortunately, I think the people who might actually give the best advice about how to proceed… are exactly the people who would also definitely make fun of you.” Brian points out, unhelpfully.

“I know… Let’s just… deal with that some other time which may very well be never. The sun’s starting to come up. How are you feeling about breakfast?”

“I find no particular physical pleasure in eating so… neutral.”

“God, this is why we call you Boring Brian when you’re like this,” Marius complains, “Come on, the means of helping provide breakfast for everyone else probably justifies something not too bad.”

“That’s not really how morals work, but okay.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lyf has many regrets about bedsharing. Also, he is very stupid. But we knew that already.

Lyf wishes his brain would decide to just throw his memory of what happened last night into the trash. But of course it had saved every embarrassing detail. Christ, he’d been on  _ top _ of Marius last night. And after he’d told  _ Marius _ to stay on  _ his _ side of the bed. Marius had to push him off of him.  _ Why hadn’t he buttoned his shirt last night? Why had he told Marius he’s hot?? What was wrong with him??? _

The worst part was that other than the time he’d gotten drunk and passed out, last night was the first time he’d slept through most of the night in longer than he can remember. Sleeping next to Marius had felt… _safe_ , as much as he hates to admit it. And he hadn’t had any nightmares last night.

Maybe it’s because Lyf  _ is _ a nightmare. A stupid nightmare disaster person who only gets half-dressed despite knowing he’s going to be sleeping next to a man he dislikes. Definitely dislikes. 100%. If it had been any other of the Mechs--barring Jonny--the same thing probably would have happened.

Lyf puts his head in his hands with a groan. Marius had seemed… uncomfortable when he got out of bed, and Lyf had just made everything worse by calling him hot.

_ Why did I say that?? I mean, he’s not  _ that _ hot. _ Lyf runs his hands through his hair, ruining his braid further than it had already been from sleeping in it.

Fuck, he’d been overthinking the whole thing since he’d woken up. He takes a deep breath and stands up, resolving himself to just forget the whole thing happened. Or at least to pretend that he had. He’d been half-asleep so by all logic the interaction shouldn’t be burned into his mind anyway. Maybe Marius has already forgotten about it too, though Lyf finds that extremely doubtful. As if Marius would miss such an easy opportunity to take the piss out of him.

_ Okay, Lyf, we’re just gonna take this one thing at a time.  _ They finally get out of bed and button up their shirt. It really is too big on him, but he has limited other options so it will have to do. 

He pulls his hair out of his braid and lets it tumble around his shoulders, giving it a cursory brush-through with his fingers as though that will actually make it look any better. Lyf allows himself to smoke a single cigarette before he decides he has to face the day eventually.

Tim is the first person he sees when he gets downstairs. The weapons master gives him a once-over with his unsettling mechanical eyes and looks almost… disappointed.

“You look more well-rested than I expected you to be. Marius treat you well last night?” He asks, casually sipping from a glass of orange juice.

“I don’t think I like what you’re implying by that. Marius didn’t treat me any particular way last night, we just slept.”

“Suuuuurrreeee,” Tim scoffs into his juice.

Lyf inhales deeply, “I really wish your last name wasn’t your first name because just calling you ‘Tim’ derisively is not nearly as effective in conveying my contempt as calling Marius ‘von Raum’.”

“You exclusively call Marius ‘von Raum’.” Tim points out ever-so-astutely.

“That’s so I can always convey my contempt for him extremely effectively.” 

Tim snorts and finishes off his orange juice, “Well, your boyfriend is in the kitchen with Brian, if you were looking for him. They’re making breakfast.”

“Not my boyfriend, wasn’t looking for him, thanks for the tip on breakfast though,  _ Tim _ .” Nope, still not effective at sounding contemptuous. 

“Well, he’s not going to be with that attitude! Or that wardrobe, what the hell are you wearing anyways?” Tim stands up and follows him into the kitchen where Marius and Brian are hard at work. Marius is flipping some pancakes with surprising skill and Brian has somehow converted one of his hands into a whisk to stir up some eggs.

“It’s a shirt and pants Tim, what the hell is wrong with it?” Lyf scowls at him and his words draw the attention of Marius and Brian who set aside their work to watch the exchange.

“Well first of all, they look like they’re gonna fall right off your skinny little body. Which I know Marius would enjoy, but the rest of us don’t need to see that.”

Marius hurls his pancake spatula at Tim and hits him squarely in the face, knocking one of his eyes out.

“Hey!” He dives to the floor to retrieve the eyeball rolling across the floor.

“Whoopsie, guess my hand slipped,  _ Timothy _ .” Marius growls, “Would you mind handing me that spatula back, Lyf?”

Oh god, he’d been so distracted by dealing with Tim that he’d totally forgotten to steel himself for actually having to interact with Marius. He quickly bends down to pick up the spatula so he doesn’t have to look him in the eyes quite yet.

“You better be planning on cleaning this,” he says as he hands it over, managing not to jerk back as his fingers brush against Marius’s.

“Uh, yeah, definitely. Definitely was planning on doing that.” Marius looks a little embarrassed, like he maybe wasn’t planning on cleaning it until Lyf called him out. Funny, Lyf hadn’t thought Marius knew what shame was. 

He does wash the spatula though, so Lyf counts this interaction as a win.

Brian hands Lyf a plate of pancakes and eggs and then holds up a finger. A couple pieces of toast launch themselves out of his chest cavity and onto the plate.

“That… O… okay.” Lyf says weakly because he cannot imagine why someone would build a toaster into the chest of someone who was at least formerly a human being and he doesn’t want to think about it too hard, “Thanks, Brian.”

“No problem, Lyfrassir!” Brian says brightly and returns to preparing more eggs.

Lyf heads back out to the bar and Tim, regrettably, follows him once he’s located his eye.

“So, I have a proposal for you, Lyf!” Tim says brightly, sitting down Right Next to him.

“Is it getting out of my personal space? Proposal accepted in that case.”

“You really are grumpy. I have no idea what Von Raum sees in you.” Tim pouts a little bit, “BUT! That is definitely not what I was going to propose. What I was going to propose is you let me and Ashes take you out and get you something  _ way _ more flattering. You’re running with the Mechanisms now, and no offense but you don’t really… fit in with our aesthetic.”

“Yeah, no offense taken, I don’t  _ want _ to fit in with your aesthetic.”

“Whyever not, dear inspector?”

“Because even though only three of you were on New Midgard, you committed almost every crime in the book?”

“Aw, are you still on that? We’re all criminals, Edda, yeah. But haven’t you also now committed… Let’s see, definitely fraud since you used forged paperwork and also pretended to be legally married to Von Raum. And accomplice to murder, like a lot. Just because you didn’t pull the trigger doesn’t mean you’re not committing a crime by not reporting it. Your alignment has changed, mate. Face the facts, you’re basically one of us. Except way easier to kill. And almost as boring as Boring Brian.”

“I am going to put cyanide in your orange juice tomorrow morning,  _ Timothy _ .” 

“Hell yeah, Edda, that’s what I’m talking about! We’ll make you one of us, yet!” Tim claps him on the back and stands up, “I’m going to go grab Ashes, you finish eating. I am not actually giving you a choice here. We’re getting you a new wardrobe.”

Lyf has to force himself not to drop his head onto the bar in exasperation because there is a plate of food directly in front of him.

*

Shopping with Tim and Ashes isn’t actually the worst thing ever, to Lyf’s surprise. They do have some… questionable suggestions as to what qualifies as fashion, though most of those were probably jokes. At least, he hoped they were. If Tim actually thought a hot pink, cheetah-print crop top and a pair of horrible rubber clogs was fashion, Lyf would probably have to kill him. 

Most of the serious suggestions are from Ashes, who, he has to admit,  _ does _ have a keen sense of fashion. Pretty much everything they pick out for him looks a thousand times better than the oversized shirt and pants he’d started the day in. Together, the three decide on the pieces they like best. Lyf does not ask if they are actually going to pay for the clothes. He already knows the answer.

Ashes gives him a final once-over as they’re heading back and stops short. 

“There’s still something missing, don’t you think, Tim?”

Tim rests his chin in his hand as he looks Lyf over as well, “I reckon you’re right, Ashes. Two, actually.”

“You just read my mind,” Ashes grins in a way that can almost be described as sinister. Lyf is not sure he likes where this is going.

Unfortunately, he does not have much of a choice as they each grab one of his hands and drag him deeper into the heart of the city. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks mechscord for encouraging toaster brian and especially thanks danny for helping out with editing and planning love you guys.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marius is confronted with the fact that Lyf is a mortal and he does not like it. He does, however, very much like Lyf's new Look.

Marius has burned three pancakes since Lyf was dragged off by Tim and Ashes. He's also dropped a couple on the floor, but that's fine, he'll just feed them to Jonny. 

"Marius," Brian says in a warning voice, "you might want to pay attention to that pancake. If you set this place on fire without Ashes here to do the honors, they're going to be pissed."

Marius shakes his head, trying - and failing - to clear his thoughts of the brief moment his fingers had brushed Lyf's. He'd been mentally preparing himself to face Lyf again for hours but that one fleeting bit of contact had shaken his resolve entirely. He had wanted to throw the spatula back on the floor and grab Lyf's hand instead, wanted to kiss his knuckles and stay like that for however long Lyf would let him- 

His pancake is burning again. He scrapes the fourth charred failure into the garbage and sets the pan aside with a sigh.

Brian hesitates for a second, looking unsure if he should say anything. Marius wishes he wouldn't but apparently fussing over him is a means that justifies some sort of end.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay? I mean I know you had kind of a big revelation last night but you could  _ also _ have a fever." The drumbot produces an instrument that looks way too pointy to be properly used as a medical device, "Let me just take your temperature…"

Marius fends him off with his spatula. 

"Is that a fucking meat thermometer?? Get away from me!"

Brian looks down at the thermometer like he's only just realized it's definitely not meant to be used on people.

"Right, sorry, guess I'm only equipped with kitchen utensils."

"I'm not ill anyways, I'm fine, just… y'know. Lyf."

"Yeah… Lyf." Brian doesn't say the name nearly as wistfully as Marius had.

"Do you think I have any sort of chance with him?"

"I really don't know Marius. It's… ill-advised at the least. I mean… he's mortal. Even if he survives the millions of hazards we pose to him just by being near him, he's only got a few more decades at most."

Now Marius  _ does _ feel ill. He knows he should have considered it before, but he really didn't want to think about it.

"Thanks, Brian," he says weakly, "really helpful, thanks a lot."

"Always happy to help!" Brian smiles, "Do you want me to take over those pancakes for you? You should eat too."

"Yeah…" Marius glumly grabs a plate and heads out to sit at the bar. He's only managed two sad bites before he promptly receives a gunshot to the back. It takes a second to recover from the white-hot pain, even if the wound isn't lethal. He turns around to find Jonny standing in the doorway, a mad grin on his face.

"What the hell was that for?"

"For looking like a moping sack of shit this early in the morning."

"Jonny it's almost noon."

"Your point?" Jonny raises an eyebrow at him.

"My point is fuck you."

"Point taken. Counterpoint: why do you look like such a sad sack of shit this morning? Didn't get lucky last night?"

"Counter-counterpoint. Fuck you again." Marius shoots him in the throat. 

"That wasn't a very sensible argument!" Brian calls from the kitchen.

"I'll shoot you too you big metal wanker!"

Brian does not deign to respond further.

Ivy, Raphaella, and the Toy Soldier have emerged from their rooms and finished off the remnants of breakfast by the time Ashes comes back. They look extremely pleased with themself. And then they give Marius an evil grin.

Oh fuck this isn't good.

"Ladies, gentlemen, whatever the Toy Soldier is, I present to you the new and improved Lyfrassir Edda, styled by yours truly. And Tim, a little, but mostly me."

Tim throws the door open and pulls an unamused Lyf in behind him, giving him a little twirl that throws him off balance. His heels click against the floor as he stumbles a little to keep his footing.

The heels are the first thing Marius notices. They're not extreme, just a pair of boots with low heels and a silver buckle on each. Lyf has never been a tall man but the heels make him at least as tall as Jonny. Not that that’s saying that much given that Jonny  _ is _ the shortest of the Mechanisms.

Marius’s eyes drift upwards, past a pair of dark gray trousers and a holster strapped around his thigh. He forces himself not to linger on that for too long. Lyf’s shirt is a soft shade of lilac and is actually tailored to his form, even better fitted than his transport police uniform had been. A grey vest hugs his chest, covered in a swirling floral design. Ashes had added a pair of fingerless gloves, presumably for the aesthetic™. He’s even got a pastel rainbow bowtie-- likely at Tim’s insistence. 

And then Marius looks at Lyf’s face and  _ oh. _ His hair is still long, but it’s trimmed a bit and pulled back neatly into a bun. His stubble is a little shorter too, and shaped better to really show off the shape of his jaw.

_ And fucking hell, Lyf had let Ashes pierce his ear. _

Marius only realizes he’s been staring when Jonny let out an obnoxious wolf whistle.

“Oh, he looks so much less sad now. Almost tolerable to be around. You truly are a worker of miracles, Ashes O’Reilly!”

Ashes shrugs nonchalantly, “I know.” But they look very pleased with the compliment anyways.

“I do have one further suggestion though.” Jonny stands up and pulls something out of his pocket. Lyf flinches like he thinks Jonny has finally snapped and is planning to off him. Instead, Jonny uncaps a stick of eyeliner and leans in close to apply it expertly around Lyf’s eyes. He does mutter something along the lines of “blink and I’ll kill you” but that’s just how Jonny is.

He pulls back to peruse his work when he’s finished and beckons Ashes over for their approval.

“Good choice, Jonny. I’d say he’s just about perfect.”

“He’s still a snivelly little rat man, but to each their own.” Jonny shrugs.

“How is it that you manage to do one nice thing for me and then immediately find a way to ruin it?” Lyf deadpans.

“That’s just how we are, Edda.” Jonny gives a grin that has a few too many teeth to be really friendly and gives him a pat on the cheek that’s closer to a slap.

Lyf rubs his cheek and then makes eye contact with Marius and rolls his eyes. Marius feels his cheeks flush a little because  _ fuck he looks so good _ . He forces himself to roll his eyes as well in a commiserative gesture. 

“Lay off him, Jonny. I think our dear inspector looks quite spiffy. The bowtie is an especially nice touch.” Marius is actually surprised at how normal that sounds coming out of his mouth. He thanks whatever gods might exist in the universe that he didn’t trip over his words.

Lyf fiddles with his collar a bit, seemingly embarrassed at the compliment.

“I Agree!” The Toy Soldier chips in, “I Think The Inspector Looks Quite Handsome! The Eyeliner Really Brings Out All The Pretty Colors In His Eyes!”

Marius knows if he looks too closely into Lyf’s eyes, he won’t be able to stop staring so he decides to change the subject instead.

“So, a concert for this planet, when?” He claps his hands together.

“Any time you lot of chucklefucks get your shit together and practice,” Jonny pulls a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, “I am ready whenever.”

Lyf looks a little on edge.

“How long are we going to be staying here?” He asks quietly.

Jonny shrugs as he lights his cigarette and takes a drag before responding.

“Probably not too long. This place seems boring as shit. The cops haven’t even come after us yet. That’s half the fun of murdering everyone in a bar!”

“I’ll… take your word on that, d’Ville. So, we’re… leaving after the concert?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, damn, it was quiet with you gone - I forgot how annoying you are.”

“That’s a lie and you know it, Jonny. You’re way more obnoxious than Lyf is. You shot me this morning for spacing out while I was eating breakfast.” Marius points out crossly. He was still mad about that.

“Oh, grow up Von Raum.”

“You grow up.”

Jonny pulls one of his many guns from its holster and shoots Marius in the chest. As Marius bleeds out on the floor, he catches the last few snatches of conversation.

“Christ, d’Ville do you have to do that every time?”

“Don’t make me shoot you too, Edda.  _ You _ won’t come back. Anyways. Concert in a few days. Then we blow a hole in this planet and watch it go spinning off its axis.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you again Danny for editing and reacting to my silliness


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's concert time pals c:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a prior warning in case you didn't see the tags: this chapter gets a bit angsty. Warning in advance for description of a panic attack and for emetophobia towards the end

Lyf isn’t really sure what to expect from a Mechanisms concert, but he’s also a little afraid to ask. He’s actually not even 100% certain he’s invited, but he assumes he probably will be, given that it seems like the whole crew actually kind of… likes him?

He’s not sure exactly when he started fitting in with the Mechanisms, but he  _ is _ sure that he doesn’t like it. 

He’s also sure that he’s kind of sick of sharing a bed with Marius since his body seems set on subconsciously betraying him every night. No matter how hard he tries, he always wakes up somehow pressed against Marius. Sometimes he’s curled up against his side; sometimes he has a leg thrown over Marius’s and an arm thrown over his chest. One time he even ended up clinging to Marius’s back like a jetpack. 

Marius seems to be getting more used to this happening, since he hasn’t pushed Lyf off him since that first night. Still, Lyf still feels weird about it.

The plus side to the concert, however, is that Marius and the other Mechanisms spend a lot of their time practicing. The awkward silences between them are limited to mornings after waking up and nights before going to bed.

Lyf spends most of his free time wandering the city, people watching. Sitting in one place for too long makes him feel antsy, like something is crawling just underneath his skin, so he makes sure not to ever stop for too long.

The day of the concert is different, unfortunately. Tim and Ashes insist he stay in the inn so they don’t have to go looking all over the place for him when it’s time to get ready. He assumes this means he definitely is invited- or rather, obligated- to go.

He also should have assumed this meant that Ashes and Tim were getting  _ him _ ready. He learns this only when they each catch him around an elbow and carry him upstairs very unceremoniously. They set him down on the floor and immediately attack him. While Ashes lines his eyes like Jonny had the other day, Tim starts in on painting his nails a light purple. He barely has the presence of mind not to blink as Ashes works on his eyes. They quickly finish his makeup and get to their feet to pull a garment bag from their wardrobe.

“I’m putting this in your room. You’re wearing this to the concert tonight and I will not take no for an answer.”

Lyf is not planning on arguing with them. He just hopes whatever is in that bag is not going to be completely mortifying to wear in public. Ashes heads out and they don’t return, leaving Lyf alone with Tim.

“Soooo~” Tim starts almost as soon as Ashes leaves.

Lyf heaves a long-suffering sigh, “‘So’ what, Tim?”

“How’ve things been going?”

“How have things been going with what?” Lyf honestly has no idea what he’s talking about. He’s not sure he wants to know.

Tim rolls his unsettling eyes, “You know, with Marius? You two have been sharing a bed for a week now, you seriously mean to tell me nothing’s happened?”

Lyf feels his cheeks go hot as the late-night cuddling is once again brought to the forefront of his mind.

“Ah, I see that little blush! Come on, spill!” Tim finishes painting his nails and moves around to his back to start messing with his hair. This whole situation was making Lyf feel like a teenager getting a makeover at a slumber party.

“There’s nothing to spill, nothing’s happening between me and Marius. I don’t even like him. We’re just sharing a bed because you fuckers forced us into it.”

“Riiiight, and neither one of you wanted to sleep on the floor?” Lyf can practically  _ hear _ Tim’s raised eyebrows.

“I offered but- but he can be very stubborn!”

Tim snorts, but his hands remain gentle as they twist Lyf’s hair into a messy knot near the crown of his head.

“You’re every bit as stubborn as he is and you know it, Lyfrassir. Look, not to break character as a murderous space pirate, but we all do care about each other in some way. Some dynamics are… weirder than others, and don’t get me wrong, you and Marius, well… yours is…  _ really _ weird. And I don’t know if it’s just one or both of you that is holding out but anyone with eyes can see that you two have some sort of… tension. And not in the we-argue-all-the-time sense anymore either. I mean like  _ romantic _ tension.”

Lyf feels himself go even redder and nope, he doesn’t want to have this conversation anymore, nope, nope, nope. Thankfully, Tim no longer has his hands in his hair so he stands up and just leaves the room. Tim calls after him a couple times, but Lyf doesn’t look back.

He’s not going to think about anything Tim just said. Nope. He refuses. It’s all nonsense anyways. He  _ hates _ Von Raum. Von Raum hates  _ him _ . Doesn’t matter if he’s started calling him Marius in his head more and more often. Doesn’t matter if Marius has silently been letting him snuggle up to him every night. Doesn’t matter that Lyf has only had the barest hint of a nightmare since they started sharing a bed.  _ None of that matters. There’s no way he has feelings for Marius and there is no way Marius has feelings for him. _

Lyf bursts into his room, hoping for a few minutes to get his heart rate in check. Of course, he’s never that lucky. Marius is there.

He appears to be getting ready himself. His shirt is half-buttoned and he’s not wearing any trousers. Lyf’s gaze immediately plunges to the floor because oh god, oh fuck.

He takes a deep breath to compose himself and says as calmly as he can, “Sorry. I should have knocked.”

“S’okay.” Marius shrugs and finishes buttoning his shirt, “All the important bits are covered, aren’t they?”

“I suppose so… Um, I’ll just change in the bathroom, yeah?”

“Right. Ashes dropped off your stuff…” He gestures to the garment bag laid out on the bed and hesitates like he’s about to say more but then thinks better of it.

“Thanks. I am apparently obligated to wear it. God I hope it isn’t some sort of sick prank.”

Marius grins. “Only one way to find out, isn’t there?”

“I suppose so. Wish me luck.” He grabs the garment bag from the bed and slides into the bathroom, surprised at how smoothly that had gone, all things considered.

Inside the garment bag is a dress, the same shade of lilac as the shirt Ashes had gotten him, and a pair of soft grey leggings. Oh. This is way better than he was expecting. This he can deal with.

He undresses and folds his clothes neatly before slipping the leggings on and sliding into the dress, careful not to mess up any of Tim and Ashes’ work on the rest of his look. And then he realizes that he can’t reach the zipper. Fuck. He tries in vain for a while. Tim was right about at least one thing: Lyf is nothing if not stubborn.

There’s a hesitant knock at the door. 

“Um, Ashes might have mentioned that you might need help? Are you okay in there?”

Lyf sighs. Of course Ashes had this all planned out. Fucker. He opens the door and turns his back to Marius.

“Zip me up?” He can see Marius’s face in the mirror, looking surprised at being asked.

“Oh. Sure.”

The moment feels like ages as Marius makes sure the zipper doesn’t catch the fabric, and Lyf has to force himself not to shiver as warm fingers graze his bare skin. Marius’s hands maybe linger a little longer than they have to and then drop to his sides.

“There… all set!” Marius gives him a smile in the mirror and turns around quickly to reenter the main part of the room.

“Thanks.” Lyf makes sure the dress is fully smoothed out before turning around, trying not to think too much about whatever the hell that was that just happened.

“It, uh, suits you. The outfit.” Marius says awkwardly.

“Thanks. I’ll… let you finish getting ready.” 

“Right. See you downstairs.”

Lyf just nods and practically runs out of the room.

*

Lyf opts to stay backstage during the concert, in the wings where he can still see the show but can avoid the rowdy crowd. He tunes out the sound check and the introductions of the band members. He’s never heard the end of that damned “whiskey laced with gasoline” song and he doesn’t intend to any time soon, even if Jonny is singing instead of Marius.

The first thing that grabs his attention is when Jonny speaks three words into the mic: “The Bifrost Incident.”

The voice Jonny is using doesn’t sound like Jonny, but it’s so familiar, Lyf is sure he knows it. It only hits him when his name comes out of Jonny’s mouth.

“That’s where I come in. Inspector Second Class Lyfrassir Edda. New Midgard Transport Police.”

Jonny is doing an unnervingly accurate impression of his voice and he is telling  _ Lyf’s story _ . He is telling the story of what happened in the Bifrost.

Lyf grips the sides of his chair and god, he doesn’t want to hear this. His stomach churns as Raphaella’s haunting voice rises up to sing Odin’s words from that horrible black box. He doesn’t want to think about Odin or singing or the Bifrost ever again.

He calms down a little bit as Jonny starts talking again. Loki, tragic as her end was, he can deal with. He still thinks about the pair of twisted skeletons they’d found when the train arrived. At least he can appreciate the sacrifice they made to delay the end of the world long enough to Lyf at least to live. The emotion he can hear in Tim’s voice is so deep he can almost believe he  _ knew _ Loki. He shivers slightly at the thought.

When Marius chips in as Thor, it’s jarring. He’d never actually heard him sound so  _ angry _ before. Grumpy, maybe, pouty, absolutely. Never straight-up pissed. He decides to tune out the next song because he doesn’t want to think about how he feels about that. And because it involves Odin again and he doesn’t want to think about that either.

He tunes back out of the show until he hears a twangy motif that doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the music he’s heard so far in the set. Jonny is describing the Mechanisms and oh god Marius is actually looking at  _ him _ backstage as he exclaims “AH! Good morning Inspector Lyf!”

Lyf flips a middle finger up at him and Marius gives him a wink before looking back towards Jonny to start that damned song again.

“LIKE WHISKEY LACED WITH GASOLINE, WE’LL GET YOU STINKIN’ DRUNK-”

“SHUT UP! God, Von Raum, just because you’re cute doesn’t mean I’m not  _ sick  _ of your singing. Where did you  _ get _ that violin?!” Jonny also winks at Lyf from across the stage and Lyf flips him  _ two _ middle fingers.

Ivy takes a second to figure out the prop they’ve been using to represent the black box and Lyf realizes what must be coming next.

His throat closes up in panic as Jonny crouches low to the stage and starts to chant.

He has to get out of there. 

Lyf runs, decorum and politeness be damned. He runs out the stage door and out the doors of the venue before collapsing to his knees on the sidewalk. The concrete digs into his knees as he doubles over and vomits into the gutter. His skin is crawling like there are a thousand bugs squirming just under the surface. Jonny’s voice seems to have followed him outside, clinging to him like cobwebs that are slowly turning into tentacles constricting around him, choking him, smothering him, splitting his skin and twisting his stomach. He slaps his hands over his ears, but the chant has become a ringing in his head and he can’t shut it out. 

He doesn’t know how long he sits there, panicking and shaking, but he finally comes back to himself when he feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks up, stupidly hoping that it’s Marius. But he’s actually relieved to see that it’s Nastya.

“The show is almost over. No more Bifrost stuff. I am sorry. That set was... a bad choice.”

Lyf takes a shaky breath and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. A wave of shame sweeps over him.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to pull you away from the show.”

Nastya waves him off, “I came to find you because I wanted to, Lyfrassir. It was our fault anyways for listening to Jonny. But you are safe with us. You know that, right?”

Lyf nods weakly, though he’s not sure he believes it. He doesn't feel like he’d be safe  _ anywhere _ right now.

Nastya stands up and helps him to his feet.

“Are you ready to go back inside?” 

“Yes.” He follows her back into the venue where the rest of the Mechs are singing a boisterous song about drunk space pirates. He sits back down in his chair and Nastya keeps a comforting hand on his shoulder as the song wraps up.

Marius all but throws his violin to the ground and runs off stage as Jonny calls out the names of the band members.

“Baro- Jesus Marius be gentle with that, it’s a precious instrument! That, ladies, gentlemen and other esteemed members of the audience, that was our ship’s doctor, Baron Marius Von Raum! Neither a doctor nor a baron but  _ definitely _ having a personal emergency!”

Marius kneels down in front of Lyf’s chair and Lyf can't help but feel miffed that he’s almost as tall kneeling on the floor as he is while sitting in a chair.

“Are you okay? I’m so fucking sorry, I should have thought about how all this would affect you, I’m such an  _ idiot _ .”

“It’s fine, Marius, I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine, let me take a look at you!”

“Marius, I’m alright.” Lyf stands up so that he’s not at eye level with Marius anymore as the rest of the Mechs file off the stage. Tim and Ashes seem to be arguing about something, but Lyf doesn’t care enough as he looks down at Marius.

Marius gets to his own feet and offers Lyf his hand.

“I really am sorry-” he’s cut off by the ring of a gunshot and for a second Lyf thinks it’s Marius who’s been shot. And then he registers the pain and looks down.  _ Oh. _ His knees buckle underneath him.

Marius catches him in his solid grasp as he falls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> he's fine. it's fine. there might be a double update today bc chapter 12 is already well underway


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More warnings! Sorry folks, there's some canon-typical goriness in there. And yet again a warning for emetophobia, it should be the last one for now

It takes a few seconds for Marius’s brain to catch up to what’s happening. Lyf is in his arms, a dark stain spreading over the soft lilac of the dress. Ashes and Tim stand frozen in their places, Tim still holding the smoking gun.

“What the  _ hell _ just happened?” Jonny breaks the silence and time seems to unfreeze. Tim and Ashes jump at each other’s throats, immediately blaming each other.

“If you hadn’t hit my hand, I wouldn’t have hit him!”

“And just let you shoot me over something so stupid? You shouldn’t have had your finger on the goddamned trigger!”

“Shut up.” Marius’s voice is hoarse from singing as Thor all night and they don’t hear him. They just keep shouting. “SHUT. UP! Shut the fuck up and-and fucking  _ help me _ !”

His doctor instincts finally kick in and he sets Lyf on the ground. Brian kneels down beside him and offers his coat to staunch the blood seeping too quickly onto the floor.

Marius doesn’t even know where to start. Tim’s always liked the messy weapons and the buckshot has torn all the way through Lyf’s back and out his stomach. They’d probably have to repair the damage surgically.

“W-we have to get back to the Aurora, we have to get him… R-Raphaella, your lab… w-we have to…”

“Marius…” Brian says gently, “I don’t think we have any time…”

“ _ Fuck _ ! Then we get him to the Doc’s lab! We just- we  _ have _ to…  _ please, we have to save him! _ ”

“Marius,” Jonny’s voice is a warning growl, “Think about what you’re saying for a fucking second. You think he’d  _ want _ that?”

Marius doesn’t know, he just knows he doesn’t want to lose Lyf.

“Marius… I think he’s already gone…” Brian’s says, quiet and solemn.

Marius can’t breathe. He knows he’s crying and he can’t even bring himself to be embarrassed about it, even as everyone else shifts uncomfortably around him at the raw display of emotion.

Raphaella kneels down beside him and puts a hand on his shoulder in a vain attempt at comfort. There are a few moments of silence and then she speaks.

“Marius? I know you’re having a  _ moment _ , but is this something that’s normal for humans?” She holds up her fingers, covered in some sort of… oil? It’s black and viscous, laced through with an iridescent sheen of rainbow colors.

“What?” Marius’s voice hardly works at this point.

“I think this is… blood?” She licks a little bit off her fingers and wrinkles her nose. “Jonny, come taste this, you know what human blood tastes like, don’t you?”

“Fucking gross, Raphaella. I’m not eating some sludge you found on the ground. Besides, is this really the time for science? The bastard was kind of growing on me.”

“It’s always time for science, d’Ville. Besides, this isn’t just random sludge. This came  _ out _ of Edda.”

“What?” Brian peels back his coat from Lyf’s body to look at the wound again. Marius flinches back and closes his eyes. It might be the first wound he’s ever felt squeamish looking at.

“Marius, you have to see this,” the urgency in Brian’s voice startles him enough that he opens his eyes despite how little he wants to.

The dress Lyf is wearing is stained black, but through the holes torn through it… tiny threads of rainbow are weaving themselves over his wounds in a way that gives Marius vertigo.

“ _ Fascinating _ .” Raphaella breathes. She fishes a test tube out of her pocket and takes a swab of the oily mess on the floor. She tries to grab one of the dizzying rainbow threads with a pair of tweezers, but Marius slaps her hand away.

The wound finishes knitting itself closed and Lyf’s body pulses with colors. His eyes fly open and he takes a desperate, choking breath. Relief floods through Marius even as Lyf turns on his side and starts coughing up the same oily sludge that had come out of his wounds. The second he’s done, Raphaella grabs about a dozen more samples. Where the hell does she keep all those test tubes??

Not that Marius actually cares. He’s too relieved to do anything up wrap his arms around Lyf. Lyf leans into the touch.

“No offense, but this is the worst fucking concert I’ve ever been to.” He mumbles into Marius’s chest.

Marius laughs softly, trying not to jostle Lyf and trying not to sound hysterical and only succeeding at one of those.

Lyf is shaking like a leaf

“Let’s go home,” Marius gently slides his arms out of his jacket, one arm at a time so one is always around Lyf. Once he’s got the jacket around Lyf, Marius gets to his feet, still holding him tight.

For once, no one has any smart-ass comments to provide.

*

When they make it back to their room, Marius finally sets Lyf on his own two feet. Lyf looks a little better by now. His cheeks have regained a bit of their color and he’s stopped shaking quite as hard.

“Could you get me out of this thing?” His voice is quiet and tired, like he’s still numb to what happened. Marius still doesn’t understand it himself, but he doesn’t have time to mull it over. He has to take care of Lyf.

Marius gently unzips the dress and Lyf suppresses a shiver. His bare back is webbed over with small scars. The more Marius looks at it, the more the faint colors become apparent, like the faintest hint of a bruise, if bruises were rainbow and made you dizzy to look at.

“Does it look bad?” Lyf asks quietly, and Marius’s heart hurts at how scared he sounds.

“No, it’s actually kind of pretty…” Marius runs his fingers over the scars, feeling their texture. Lyf shivers again.

He slips the dress the rest of the way off and shoves it into Marius’s hands.

“Can you just… get rid of that?”

Marius doesn’t want to look at the dress anymore either, but he keeps his eyes fixed on it as he hangs it over the doorknob out in the hall. Hopefully Raph would find it interesting enough to take with her as another sample.

Lyf is still standing there when he’s done. Marius puts a gentle hand on his shoulder to steer him towards the bed to sit him down.

“Come on, let’s find you something more comfortable to wear to bed.”

Marius helps him into an oversized button up shirt and out of his torn, bloody leggings. Lyf flops back onto the bed after that and goes a little boneless, so Marius gives up on the idea of getting him into a pair of trousers.

Instead, he throws on pajamas of his own and crawls into bed next to Lyf. Lyf doesn’t even wait to fall asleep before he’s curled against Marius’s chest.

Marius gently runs his hand through Lyf’s hair, hoping it’s at least some comfort. He’s stopped shaking entirely now, which Marius hopes is a good sign.

“Marius…” Lyf mumbles into his chest.

“Mmm?”

“What  _ am _ I?” his voice breaks a little and Marius feels Lyf’s tears seeping into his shirt.

Marius thinks for a minute, choosing his words carefully to avoid admitting that the real answer is that he doesn’t know.

“Why, you’re Lyfrassir Edda, former Inspector Second Class of the New Midgard Transport Police, number one confiscator of violins, king of trying to boil me to death in my sleep, and the most comfortable blanket I’ve ever had.”

Lyf exhales in a way that could be construed as a laugh and Marius relaxes a little.

“We’re going to figure things out, Lyfrassir. I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's about.... it's about the y  
> the yearning


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mechanisms aren't experts in being comforting, but they sure as hell try

The nightmares are worse than they’ve ever been that night. Everything behind his eyes is tearing flesh and rainbow light and echoing voices screaming more words than Lyf can understand, and covering his ears doesn’t help. He’s sinking beneath the surface of a sea of rainbow oil and it’s filling his mouth and his nose and his throat and his eyes.  _ Eyes.  _ A thousand eyes are watching him, rolling madly in their sockets, rolling across the oil-slick floor. Lyf is falling, or maybe he’s floating in an airless void with a million little creatures pulling his limbs through cracks in reality, and he can’t breathe, he can’t breathe,  _ he can’t breathe _ .

He wakes up screaming so loud he sends himself into a coughing fit.

Marius is holding him tight, trying to calm him down. 

It takes Lyf a long time to be able to breathe normally again and fully register what’s happening.

Marius doesn’t say anything, just keeps holding onto him, running his hands through Lyf’s hair. Lyf leans into him because he’s afraid that if Marius lets him go, he’ll sink right back into the dreams.

“Marius…” Lyf whispers hoarsely. He doesn’t really have anything to say, he just doesn’t want it to be quiet anymore, and Marius excels at not being quiet.

Marius hums softly in response, which is a little disappointing.

“Can you be… less quiet?”

Marius looks down at him with a quizzical look, “What?”

“I don’t know… tell me a story? Sing me something? It’s too quiet.”

Marius looks incredulous and places his warm hand against Lyf’s forehead. “Are you feeling okay, Lyf? You  _ never _ want to hear me sing.” His voice is a little hoarse too, probably from the concert last night. Lyf doesn’t want to think about last night.

“I feel like shit, actually.” Lyf leans into the touch nevertheless because it makes him feel even more anchored, “But it’s too quiet, and you’re good at not being quiet, so stop being quiet. Please.”

Marius chuckles a little and Lyf can feel the vibration of it in his chest, “Okay, but only because you asked so nicely.”

He sets off on a rambling story that Lyf is pretty sure he’s pulling out of his ass as he goes. He doesn’t really pay attention to the words, just the way Marius’s voice vibrates against his skin and fills his brain. Marius just keeps talking and talking and Lyf finds himself actually dozing off again.

He doesn’t know how long he spends half-asleep, held safe against Marius’s chest, but it’s well into the morning when there’s a soft knock on the door. Lyf scoots himself a little bit away from Marius because he’s really not in the mood to get teased by the rest of the Mechanisms today.

“Yes?”

Ivy pokes her head in the door and gives a brief, pleased smile. “Ah, you’re awake. Good.” She pushes all the way into the room and Raphaella follows her, holding a tray stacked with a veritable breakfast buffet.

“I calculated that there was a 78% chance that you would not be wanting to get out of bed today, so I thought we might bring you something to eat.”

“You do still feel the need to eat, right?” Raphaella puts the tray on the bedside table and pulls out a notebook, poised to take notes. Ivy shoots her a warning look and she presses her lips together contritely and flips the notebook closed.

“Right, sorry. Science… later.” She sounds like this physically pains her to say out loud.

“It’s okay, la Cognizi. I mean… I could eat.” He doesn’t say that he isn’t really particularly hungry, which probably isn’t a good sign given how much he’d emptied his stomach yesterday.

He takes the tray from the bedside table and digs in.

Raphaella turns her back and makes a note that she probably thinks is surreptitious and is decidedly not. 

Ivy smiles softly at him, looking relieved. “I’d been a little worried about how low the odds were you’d have an appetite this morning…”

Lyf is surprised to find himself smiling. He wasn’t expecting the other mechs to be so concerned about him.

As it turns out, Raphaella and Ivy are not the only ones who are concerned. Ivy has just sat down and taken up the thread of whatever story Marius had been making up by reading a book out loud from her memory when there’s another knock at the door. Ashes and Tim are there, both avoiding eye contact with him. Brian is behind them and gives them each a gentle shove into the room.

“We, uh… We weren’t sure you’d want to see us, after last night.”

Lyf shrugs. “Everyone else is in here, aren’t they? I’m not wearing trousers. It’s a goddamn party.”

Tim and Ashes give him weird looks.

“I mean… it was our fault you, well… died.” Tim says.

“Oh. Well, I got better, so…” Neither of them look convinced so he changes tack: “I’m still absorbing it. But I’m not mad. I doubt you did it on purpose, especially after putting in all the effort to make sure I didn’t look like shit.” 

They both look relieved, though they also notably avoid looking at Marius.

“We brought some peace offerings.” Ashes says, producing a bag. Inside are some candles and marshmallows and little skewers. “I know you already have food, but really, what good is food if there isn’t at least a little fire to go with it? Plus, the candles smell nice.”

“Thanks, Ashes.”

Tim steps forward and offers him a gun handle-first, in the least threatening way possible.

“I figured it was about time you had a weapon. I mean… you’re basically one of us, aren’t you? And what is a space pirate without his arm?”

“Marius?” Lyf suggests, taking the gun and feeling its balance in his hand. Tim only has half a chance to snort at the joke before Lyf shoots him between the eyes.

Everyone else looks at him in surprise.

“What, am I not allowed to join in on the gratuitous violence now? I thought I was one of you.”

The Mechs collectively burst out into a raucous cheer. “One of us! One of us!”

Which is, of course, when Jonny bursts in.

“Will you all shut the fuck up?” He zeros in on Lyf and Lyf can’t help but feel nervous. Despite everything, he’s still a little afraid of Jonny d’Ville. “You need to not scream your damn lungs out at five in the morning, some of us are trying to sleep right around then. Drink away the nightmares like the rest of us.” D’Ville tosses a bottle of whiskey at him, which he only just barely manages to catch.

It’s definitely not  _ sound _ advice, but coming from Jonny, it’s basically a warm hug.

“Oh I’m So Pleased To See All Of My Friends Getting Along So Well!” The Toy Soldier chirps in its angelic voice and Lyf almost drops the bottle he just caught.

“Christ almighty, where the hell did you come from??”

“I Was Under Your Bed! It Was A Very Nice Story You Told Earlier, By The Way, Marius.”

“Er… Thanks, TS.”

“Well, now that the whole goddamned family is here… ‘cept fucking Nastya, who knows what she’s doing.”

“The Aurora,” Marius provides.

“Can it, Von Raum.” Jonny glares, “What say we commit a few atrocities and then blow this ramshackle little planet to bits?”

“I’m in.” Lyf stands up, electing to ignore the fact that he is, in fact, not wearing trousers, “I want to commit a crime.” He turns back to look at Marius. “Take me to commit a crime.” 

He knows he’s going a little bit off the rails, which is definitely not a good sign re: the current state of his humanity, but at this point he’s spent so long with the Mechanisms that he figures he might as well just stop resisting and go with the flow. And the flow is apparently now asking Marius Von Raum to help him commit a crime.

“Okay, Lyf, we can do that, just… Maybe put on some proper clothes first?”

“Of course; I’m not completely mad… yet. I’m just waiting for all the rest of these chucklefucks to clear out. This room wasn’t meant for nine people.”

The rest of the Mechs murmur in agreement and begin to clear out, but not before Ashes procures a promise from Lyf that he will join them for roasted marshmallows when they get back to the Aurora.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyf voice: Aren't you tired of being lawful good? Don't you just want to go apeshit?


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lyf off the police force, what crimes will he commit?

Marius, for his part, is trying his best not to worry. Obviously there’s only so much of the Mechanisms one can handle before they start to take on bad habits, and Lyf has been exposed to them for weeks now without a break. Besides, he’s already shown himself to be rather desensitized to the violence by now. Wanting to join in on the crime spree is probably just the next logical step. 

The timing is what bothers Marius the most. You don’t die horribly and then come back to life, discovering that you’ve been irreversibly touched by an eldritch god of madness and chaos in the process and just decide to commit a few crimes for fun. Do you? It’s been so long since Marius became immortal, he doesn’t remember his first reaction. He’s always been a bit skeptical of it, actually. Surely all this death and dying would catch up to him eventually. It had to. 

He worries about that for Lyf as well. What if this first time was just a fluke? Just because it happened once doesn’t mean they should be reckless.

He doubts he’d be able to talk Lyf out of anything though, so all he can do is agree to go with him and make sure he can protect him in case things go south. 

They both get dressed in relative silence, Lyf now back in his well-tailored shirt, vest, and pants, ready for action as he’ll ever be. He has the gun Tim gave him strapped into the holster at his thigh and Marius once again has to force himself not to stare.

He should be given an award, really, for how good he is at repressing the frankly shameful amount of embarrassing thoughts he has about Lyfrassir Edda. “Embarrassing” really doesn’t even begin to describe it. 

“Are you ready?” He forces his eyes back up to Lyf’s face, which has a look of pinched concentration to it as he tries to figure out how to properly do up his bowtie.  _ Fuck, looking at his face was not helping the embarrassing thoughts _ .

“Do you know how to tie a bowtie?” Lyf sounds frustrated and throws his hands to his side in annoyance.

Marius can’t stop himself from smiling. He steps forwards and grabs each end of the bowtie. And then he realizes he actually  _ doesn’t _ know how bowties work.

“Um… actually, I don’t.” Marius awkwardly drops his hands to his sides, “Sorry.”

Lyf looks up at him and Marius freezes because  _ god he wants to kiss him so badly _ . Then Lyf steps back and the moment is broken and Marius has to take a deep breath to calm his nerves. 

Thankfully Lyf has turned his back towards him to put the bowtie on the bedside table, so he probably doesn’t notice.

“Guess I’ll just have to leave it behind. Maybe for the best. This outfit isn’t exactly subtle as it is but the bowtie kind of pulls it over the edge.”

“True,” Marius fiddles with his own neckwear, trying to look busy so he doesn’t have to look at Lyf.

“Alright, in that case I’m ready. Let’s go.”

*

Marius isn’t sure how he found himself sneaking through the halls of the biggest museum of the city with Lyf, but if this is the crime he wants to commit, he’s not going to complain. At least it was safer than getting in a one-sided bar fight, killing a bunch of people (and cops) and burning down several buildings. Which he’s sure is what Ashes and Jonny plan to do with their crime time.

Lyf has been perusing the items in the artifact storage of this museum for twenty minutes now and Marius can’t believe he didn’t expect Lyf to pick the most boring crime in existence.

“What should we take, do you think?” Lyf looks over at him.

Marius opens his mouth to tell him to just grab something when he hears footsteps coming down the hall. He can tell by Lyf’s wide-eyed look that he’s heard them too. He’s expecting Lyf to freeze up and for them to have to fight their way out. Instead Lyf throws himself at him and grabs his collar, forcing him against the wall. 

And then he presses his lips into Marius’s. It's warm, and it's soft, and it is  _ achingly  _ tender, and it shuts Marius's mind off completely. .

He only reboots when Lyf pulls away at the sound of a throat clearing.

“Oh! Oh my gosh I’m so sorry, I didn’t even realize we probably aren’t supposed to be here.” Lyf gives an embarrassed giggle that makes Marius feel like his brain is melting. “You know how it is, sometimes, wanting to sneak off for a little alone time?”

The museum worker looks between them both with an unamused expression, “Uh, sure, but you really aren’t supposed to be here.”

“Right, I’m  _ so _ sorry.” Lyf pretends to straighten out his clothes and reaches out to smooth Marius’s collar for good measure. “We’ll follow you out.”

The museum worker nods and turns on their heel to lead them out of artifact storage and Lyf gives Marius a Look that he certainly doesn’t have the brain power to interpret at this moment. Lyf nods like Marius’s deer-in-the-headlights stare is meant as further communication and places a hand on the museum worker’s shoulder. There’s a bright flash of rainbow light and Marius has to cover his eyes. When he looks back, the museum worker is gone and Lyf is looking at his hands with a queasy expression on his face.

“Wh… what did you do to them?” Marius asks.

“I… sent them... away.” Lyf sounds like he’s a thousand miles away and Marius figures that now is not a great time to bring up that kiss. He puts a gentle hand on Lyf’s shoulder.

“Come on, let’s finish what we came here to do. Let’s find you something, nice, huh?”

Lyf closes his eyes and exhales a deep sigh, then looks up at him. “Right. Okay. Let’s go.”

Marius is relieved that he sounds more present, but his irises are now even more obviously shot through with rainbow light, which probably isn’t a good sign.

Lyf turns back towards the shelves and continues to browse for just the right artifact to take. Marius takes the opportunity to settle back against the wall and overthink exactly everything about what had happened in the past few minutes. Specifically, those few seconds where Lyf’s lips had been pressed against his.  _ Fuck _ . 

He understands  _ why _ Lyf had kissed him and he gets that obviously he didn’t  _ mean  _ it as anything more than a distraction but… god, Marius  _ wants _ it to mean more. He wants to kiss Lyf in the back of a museum just to kiss him, he wants to be able to have more than a few seconds to kiss back.

Lyf pulls him out of his yearning: “This.”

He is staring at a necklace on the shelf, a large amethyst in a bismuth setting with two smaller amethysts on either side. It’s simpler than you’d expect the necklace of some long-dead space queen to wear, but it suits him. He turns and holds the necklace out to Marius.

“Can you put it on me?”

“Oh… Yeah.” He takes the necklace and Lyf turns around to let him put it on.. He tries not to brush the bare skin of Lyf’s neck with his fingers, but it’s hard given how clumsy his metal fingers are with the tiny clasp. He finally manages to get it fastened and tucks the necklace chain under Lyf’s collar. 

Lyf turns around. “How does it look?”

Marius thinks he looks beautiful. The light refracting off the bismuth setting brings out the light of the Bifrost in his eyes. Marius could stare into his eyes forever and never get bored and he doesn’t care how fucking cheesy that sounds.

He clears his throat, “Um, good! It looks good! It suits you.”

“Thanks…” Lyf looks down at the necklace and brings a hand up to brush his fingers against the largest amethyst.

There’s a moment of silence and then Lyf shakes his head.

“We should go. I don’t really want to take more than we can carry.”

“Right.” Marius swipes a few other random items off the shelves and then makes his way to the door. He glances out in either direction to make sure the coast is clear and then waves Lyf outside. Lyf slips out of the door and Marius follows.

“I’d say that was a successful heist overall.” Aside from the fact that Lyf is driving him insane and it has nothing to do with the eldritch god that’s attached itself to him, but he decides against mentioning that.

“Yeah. That was less exhilarating than I expected it to be.”

“Next time we’ll rob a bank.”

Lyf snorts, “Let’s focus on getting back to the Aurora for right now.”

“Right.” They slip out of the museum and into the streets of the city just as the first few explosions start, marking the end of the Mechanisms’ stay and quite possibly the end of the entire planet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the YEARNING


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mechanisms celebrate their planet destruction the old-fashioned way: whiskey and gratuitous violence and loud singing.

Lyf is an idiot. He’s perfectly aware of this fact. He, in fact, cannot stop being aware of this fact. He’s been thinking about it ever since he got back to the Aurora.

He can’t believe he  _ kissed Marius _ . What the hell had he been thinking?

The truth was that he hadn't been thinking at all. The first thought that had popped into his head was pretending to be married to Marius to get onto the planet in the first place. So he'd just rolled with it. 

Still, he'd much rather think about Marius and replay that kiss in his head over and over than think about what he'd done to that museum worker. 

The crew is cracking open the whiskey and Lyf figures he may as well join them. Despite what a disaster his heist with Von Raum had been, it had still been fun. And he  _ was _ certainly glad to be headed back into space.

He knows it doesn't matter, not really. The Bifrost has already seeped into his bones like radiation. There isn't any escape anymore. The Bifrost is a part of him.

Nevertheless, he's glad to keep moving away from the Yggdrasil System.

He joins the Mechs in the kitchen and Ashes pours him a tumbler of whiskey.

A few hours and a  _ lot _ of whiskey later, Ashes is laughing like a maniac as they, Tim and Jonny all try to smash each other's heads in with empty whiskey bottles. Raphaella has made a little wing cocoon around herself and Ivy and is mumbling something incoherent to her that probably has to do with science. The Toy Soldier has been splashing whiskey against its face for hours, trying and failing to drink like a normal person. It just looks happy to have been invited. Nastya is half-clinging to Brian, trying to pry open his chest-toaster with a screwdriver. Marius has been egging on the fight club all night, but he's finally getting to that borderline between tipsy and full-out drunk. 

Usually alcohol makes Lyf gloomy but he's entertained enough by watching Jonny shank Tim with a broken bottle that for now he's just having a good time. There are too many people around him and they're all having too much fun for him to be sad. He downs another glass of whiskey as the Toy Solider gets bored of pretending to drink and starts up a song that the whole crew takes up, even as Jonny, Tim, and Ashes continue trying to murder each other. Something about roses and someone named Jack. Marius pulls Lyf to his feet, laughing his way through the lyrics and spinning him around.

There's a lull in the song and Lyf freezes, realizing how close his face is to Marius's. Marius seems to realize it at the same moment and  _ oh god is he leaning in _ ? No, this can't happen now, definitely not like this. He opts to wrap his arms around Marius and bury his face in his chest. That's a normal way to avoid someone probably trying to kiss you, right? Marius just laughs and hugs him back, lifting him off his feet to spin him around a couple of times before the song ends. The rest of the Mechs immediately start in on another tune but Marius is swaying on his feet and Lyf decides it's probably for the best if he takes him to bed. 

"Come on, I'm cutting you off." He takes Marius's hand and drags him to the door, ignoring the catcalls and wolf whistles they get in their wake.

Marius hiccups and gives him a quizzical look, but he can't keep the smile off his face. "What're you cutting off?"

"I'm cutting off your access to alcohol, Von Raum." Lyf elects to ignore the fact that this probably seems hypocritical when he's drunk himself. "We're going to bed."

"Oh?" Marius grins brightly, "you're taking me to bed, Inspector?"

He makes it sound far more salacious than Lyf meant it to be.

"No you idiot, I'm taking you to your room so you can sleep and then I am going to sleep in a separate room."

Marius laughs, but he does accept that answer so Lyf continues to lead him to his room. He lingers at the door and Lyf knows he's an idiot but he's just drunk enough that he can't stop himself.

He's just going to give him a kiss on the cheek, he swears. But Marius moves his head at the last minute and their lips touch and Lyf feels like the world is on fire, but in a good way. 

They stumble into the room together, still connected at the lips. Marius's fingers are tugging gently on his hair in a way that makes his whole scalp tingle and he bites back a soft gasp against Marius's mouth. 

Marius trips over something and they both land rather unceremoniously on the bed. Marius loses himself in an uncontrollable fit of giggles and Lyf wants to kiss him again so bad. So he does. Marius is still laughing but he's kissing him back and pulling him closer. The room feels like it's spinning and Lyf isn't sure if it's the whiskey or the blood rushing to his face or something else. He decides he's too drunk to think anymore about it and just keeps kissing Marius.

*

Lyf has a mild heart attack when he wakes up next to Marius. He knows he shouldn't really be surprised about that after waking up beside Marius every day for the last week or so but he'd been expecting to have his own bed back when they got back to the Aurora. And this definitely wasn't his own bed. It wasn't even his  _ room _ (if you could count the sickbay as his room.) It takes a second to remember exactly what happened last night, and another second to make sure they're both still clothed. They are, though Lyf had lost his vest somehow and only one button of his shirt is still fastened. Marius has lost his shirt entirely, but he's still wearing pants so Lyf counts this as a win. He'd made a mistake last night but it wasn't as big of a mistake as it could have been. 

He slides out of bed and is about to beat a hasty retreat when Marius groans loudly and pulls one of his pillows over his head. Lyf closes his eyes and takes a deep breath because  _ dammit _ , he's too nice for his own good sometimes. He leaves the room to go get Marius some food and water. 

The Toy Soldier is out in the hall and Lyf is so grateful that none of the other mechs are with it.

"Hullo, Inspector Lyf!" It says cheerily, "How Are You This Fine Morning?"

Lyf considers his answer for a second. "Pretty good, actually." The answer surprises him. He's still going to have to deal with the whole kissing thing later, but he's surprisingly hangover-free and that plus alone is currently outweighing any minuses. Besides, Toy Soldier doesn't seem to realize that him emerging from Marius's room is abnormal so he counts that as a double win.

"Jolly Good! You, Brian, And Ivy Seem To Be The Only People Feeling Remotely Normal This Morning! I Hope Our Friends Feel Better Soon." It sounds a little glum when it says this but quickly perks up again, "I Know! Let's Make Them Some Get Well Soon Cards!"

"That's a sweet gesture, TS, but water, food, and painkillers is a way more helpful strategy. Maybe you can help Brian whip up a nice hangover breakfast for the rest of them? Since his sous-chef is also laid low today?" He gestures back towards Marius's room to indicate who he's talking about.

"Lyf! You're A Genius!" The Toy Soldier marches a little ahead of him in its haste to get to the kitchen.

Jonny is already at the table, his head in his arms and a bottle of whiskey at his elbow. Lyf isn't certain whether he'd just slept in the kitchen overnight or if he was drinking off his hangover. Possibly both. Jonny glares up at him and TS when they enter.

"Well don't you two look happy this morning?" He sneers

"Just because some people can handle their liquor better than you doesn't mean you should be jealous," Lyf chides. He just barely manages to dodge the whiskey bottle Jonny throws at his head.

"You? Handling your liquor better? Give me a break. As if you didn't sneak off with Von Raum last night. Nice hickeys, by the way."

Lyf curses and buttons his shirt up as high as it will go.

"Fuck off d'Ville." He says curtly and goes to the sink to grab a glass of water. 

Brian is frying up some bacon and eggs at the stove and Lyf slides past him to grab a plate of food he's already finished. He leans towards Brian conspiratorially.

"Do I actually have hickeys?"

"Yes."

Lyf groans. So much for being in a good mood.

He takes the cup and food back to Marius's room, ignoring Jonny's teasing jeers. 


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marius has to deal with the aftermath of his bad drunken decisions

Marius wakes up with a ringing head and a dry mouth. There’s a glass of water and a plate of food on his bedside table and he doesn’t think it was him who put them there. He sits up with a grimace and drinks the water in three gulps. He feels just queasy enough to not want to eat, but he knows he should, so he manages to choke down most of the food.

He feels marginally better and goes to stand up when he sees the grey vest on the floor. Marius doesn’t  _ own _ a grey vest. And this particular vest would certainly not fit him very well. He knows exactly whose vest it is. Everything that happened last night comes flooding back to him.

_ Oh fuck. _ He’d kissed Lyf. Again.  _ And Lyf had kissed him back _ . And it was so much better than the museum and god he wishes he’d been sober for the whole thing.

He forces himself to calm down a little and take a deep breath. Okay, no big deal, it was just a kiss. A  _ lot _ of kissing. And a little bit of unbuttoning shirts and roaming hands. And quite a bit of Marius’s lips and teeth on Lyf’s neck and collarbone. 

He has to take another deep calming breath. Shit. He’s so fucked. 

He manages to get to his feet and put a shirt on so he can return the dishes to the kitchen. 

Almost the whole damned crew is there, and even though they all look like hell except Ivy, TS, and Brian, they immediately break out into applause and catcalls the second he enters the kitchen. He regrets not grabbing his gun.

“ _ Christ _ , Von Raum, it’s about damn time. You two were getting on my last nerve.” Ashes gripes.

“I thought the universe would end before you two actually went at it.” Tim cackles.

“We… we didn’t! It wasn’t like that.” Marius scowls at them and dumps his dishes in the sink.

“You should have seen Edda’s neck!” Jonny’s grin is all teeth and Marius just knows something horrible is about to come out of his mouth. “And here I’d thought we’d gotten rid of all the vampires on the ship.”

There’s a beat of uncomfortable silence, which Raphaella breaks quickly.

“So how was he? Because I have a hypothesis that cops are horrible in bed. Eldritch monsters, however, makes it much more interesting.”

“He’s not a monster,” Marius snaps, “and we didn’t sleep together. I mean, we slept  _ next to _ each other but…” he scowls, “Why the hell am I telling you this? It is absolutely none of your fucking business.”

“So are you two, like,  _ official _ now?” Tim asks.

“No. I mean. I don’t know. We didn’t really do much  _ talking _ last night. Our mouths were a little preoccupied.”

“Oh, christ, that’s disgusting.” Jonny shoots him in the chest to punctuate this sentence.

Marius is actually grateful for that for once because he has to take the time to come back to life and heal up before they all can keep grilling him. Unfortunately they haven’t gotten sick of the topic by the time he picks himself back up off the floor.

“So you haven’t talked to Lyf at all?” Ashes asks.

Marius shakes his head, “I actually haven’t seen him all morning. Where  _ is _ he?”

“We sent him to the medbay a few minutes ago to get us all some painkillers. He’s the only one of us who hasn’t got a hangover. Except those of us who didn’t drink. Or can’t drink. Actually, you just missed him, I think.”

Marius sighs and sits down at the table. Dying hadn’t helped his headache at all and painkillers sound great right about now. He actually finds himself dozing off a little bit at the table, but he knows Lyf has come in when the rest of the Mechs get louder and one of them gives him a teasing nudge with their elbow. He has to steel himself to look up because he is genuinely afraid of what Lyf might say to him. 

When he does look up, though, Lyf just hands him a little paper cup with a couple of pills in it and continues to distribute the rest to everyone else.

Marius’s stomach squeezes a bit when he sees the marks on Lyf’s neck. They’re mostly hidden behind his collar and his hair but they’re definitely there and  _ oh god, he did that _ .

He dry swallows the pills and stands up, placing his hands on the table and trying not to look as mortified as he feels.

“Lyfrassir? Could we have a word?” Oh god, why had he said it like that, that was just going to make Lyf nervous. “Please?”

Lyf has a look in his eyes like a cornered animal, but when he responds, his voice is even. “Yeah, of course.”

Marius gives the rest of them a threatening look telling them to not even  _ think _ about following them as he shuffles Lyf out the door and back to his room.

It hits him when they get there that he doesn’t have any idea where to start. He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. He tries again.

“Um… last night…” His voice fails him again, “I mean… we…  _ goddammit _ .” he runs a hand through his hair.

Lyf’s expression is inscrutable, whatever he’s thinking locked behind the rainbow webbing in his eyes. He waits a few more moments for Marius to try to spit it out. And when Marius fails once again to put his feelings into words, he speaks up.

“It’s alright, Marius. It was just physical for me too. It’s not that big of a deal. We’re grown men, we can do what we want.”

Marius’s heart sinks to the bottom of his stomach. “Oh.” Oh no. “Yeah, yes, of course, purely physical.”  _ Shut up, Marius, shut up! _ “I mean, if you’d be interested in doing something like that again, I certainly wouldn’t complain…” Fuck he’s such an idiot.

Lyf looks a little surprised, and Marius thinks he sees a little bit of pink tinge his cheeks.

“Um… yeah, okay. Anytime. You just have to ask.”

“Cool.”

“Cool.” Lyf turns like he’s about to leave and then he looks back at Marius, “Actually… if you’re feeling any better later… would you mind if I came by?”

Marius feels his cheeks go a little hot because wow, he didn’t actually expect Lyf to be the first one to ask to exploit this arrangement, let alone so quickly.

“Yeah, no problem.”

Lyf gives him a smile that leaves him weak in the knees and takes his leave.

Marius only waits a few minutes before flopping onto his bed and screaming into his pillow.

He allows himself a few more seconds of wallowing and then he gets up to find Brian, who has thankfully returned to his room and is not still in the kitchen where the rest of the Mechs might still be. 

He then proceeds to flop down onto  _ Brian’s _ bed and scream into  _ his _ pillow.

“I take it the conversation didn’t go very well?” Brian asks sympathetically.

“Brian, I’m the dumbest fucking man in the universe.”

“No, you’re not. That’s just how being in love makes you feel.”

“Well we’re not in love, Brian, guess what we are, take a wild fucking guess and then once you guess just blow my fucking brains out because I obviously don’t have any  _ use _ for them because I’m a fucking dumbass!”

Brian pats him awkwardly on the back. “Marius, don’t you think this is all a little dramatic? He’s just one guy.”

“Friends with benefits, Brian! We’re friends with benefits now! Friends with  _ fucking benefits _ , you can’t tell me that’s not the dumbest shit you’ve ever heard in your life!”

“I mean I once got murdered in the name of god because I saved someone’s life so… no, actually, it’s definitely not the  _ dumbest _ thing I’ve ever heard.”

“But you admit it’s dumb.”

“It would be wrong for me to lie, so… yes. It is.”

“If I flip your switch, would you blow my brains out?”

“First of all, that sounds like a sexual innuendo, which I think you should save for your new friend with benefits. Secondly, please leave my room.”

Marius groans, “You’re so unhelpful, Boring Brian.”

Brian flips his own switch and physically throws Marius out of his room. 

Though perhaps that's for the best; he needs time to freak out about the fact that he's going to be meeting Lyf tonight. God, he has to take a shower, he has to make sure he doesn’t look like complete shit after his hangover, he has to pick out a nice-ish pair of underwear just in case- oh god he can’t let himself think about that possibility or else his head will probably just explode.

_ Okay, Von Raum, one step at a time. Shower first, then clothes, something nice, not too garish, not too crass, not too fancy… _ oh god he has nothing to wear.

A shower, a few major breakdowns, a series of bored outfit suggestions from Aurora, and a frantic room-cleaning later, Marius is as ready as he’ll ever be. 

He lets Lyf in when he knocks on the door, and there’s an immediate awkward silence between them.

“Hi.”

“Hi.” Lyf perches himself uncomfortably on the bed.

Marius sits himself beside Lyf and does his best to relax.

“Um… I’ll be honest, I’ve never really done anything like this before…” Lyf chuckles nervously and,  _ god, _ Marius is so in love.

“Can I kiss you?”

Lyf looks taken aback at how blunt the question is, but Marius can’t help himself.

“Yes.” Despite the initial discomfort, Lyf’s answer is sure.

Marius pulls Lyf against him and presses their lips together. And even if this is the closest he'll ever be able to get to an actual relationship with Lyfrassir Edda, maybe it can be enough.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lyf and the Toy Soldier get... creative with cooking. Also other things happen but I don't have a good summary for this chapter as my mind is currently being consumed by the Bifrost thank you for your understanding

This time when Lyf wakes up next to Marius he knows he's made a mistake. He should never have asked for this. He slides out of the bed, careful not to disturb Marius, and begins to pick his clothes up off the floor. Then he decides that that's too much effort and just slides his pants on and heads out into the hall to light himself a cigarette.

God, he'd let himself fall down this rabbit hole quickly, hadn't he? All it had taken was one drunken kiss from Marius and now here he was, spending every night in his room instead of anywhere else even when he has the option.

But  _ god _ had it felt good. That was the worst part, actually. Marius had been so gentle with him, his fingers grazing softly against the rainbow scars on his stomach and back and even the older white ones on his chest.

And Lyf has let himself imagine, just for a second,  _ what if this wasn't just physical? What if he wanted something more? _

It hits him in a wave now that he  _ does _ want something more.

He finishes his cigarette in record time and lights another with shaking hands. His head is pounding like his hangover is finally catching up to him. He doesn't want to think about all this, but he can't stop himself.

Marius would have told him if he'd wanted it to be more than physical, wouldn't he? Of course he would. He's not a coward like Lyf is, always trying to dodge emotions and just not think about things. Marius would have spoken his mind. No, there’s no way Marius could like him like that.

Something nudges his shoulder and he jumps a little when he finds the Toy Soldier sitting next to him.

“AH! When did you get here??”

“Not Too Long Ago! What Are We Doing Outside Of Marius’s Room?”

“ _ I _ am having a breakdown. I don’t know what you’re doing.”

“Can I Have A Breakdown With You?” It sounds far too happy to actually have one.

“I’d rather you didn’t…” TS’s face somehow seems to fall a little at this, though its expression doesn’t change. “No, I mean… I’d rather not think about it anymore. Maybe you can help me with that?”

TS’s energy perks back up immediately, “Okay! Let’s See…”

Lyf knows he should probably be afraid of what it’s going to say, but he doesn’t have the energy to be.

“Do You Know How To Cook, Lyfrassir?”

“No.”

“Can You Teach Me?” It seems to have completely ignored his negative response. He’s about to tell it no again, but then decides that honestly, anything is better than chain smoking in front of Marius’s bedroom.

“You know what, TS? Sure, let me just put some clothes on.”

“Spiffing!” It waits patiently for him to reenter Marius’s room and get dressed. He should be back before Marius even wakes up. 

And if he lets his gaze linger on Marius’s sleeping form a little longer than is 100% necessary before he slips back out the door, how would the Toy Soldier ever know?

Cooking with the Toy Soldier is exactly as chaotic as Lyf had imagined it to be. By their conjoined efforts, they have managed to burn some sort of inedible goop to the bottom of almost every pot and pan the Mechanisms own. Three plastic spatulas have melted on the stovetop and the Toy Soldier’s arm has caught on fire at least five times. Lyf had almost poked his own eye out with a spoon he’d been using to try to unstick something from a pan that might have once been egg. 

“I did tell you that I don’t actually know how to cook,” Lyf admits as his spoon finally bends and breaks against the mighty fortress of burnt egg.

“I Think You’re Doing A Fine Job! I’m Learning So Much!”

Lyf snorts and goes to the sink to try to loosen the mess from the pan. 

He’s been at it for a few minutes when Marius thunders into the room. “Ashes, you  _ know _ you’re banned from the kitchen-oh.” The heat behind his words dissipates when he sees Lyf and TS, though his eyes are no less stormy. Lyf realizes that he’d left Marius alone in bed… He’d expected to be back before Marius woke up, but he’d lost track of time. He’s not exactly sure why he feels quite so guilty about it.

“Why are you setting our kitchen on fire with the Toy Soldier?” Marius addresses him directly.

“It asked me to teach it how to cook…” Lyf says a little weakly.

“Lyf Also Doesn’t Know How To Cook!” The Toy Soldier beams in delight.

The stormy look in Marius’s eyes fades a little and he chuckles softly, shaking his head.

“Move over.” He nudges Lyf aside gently and manages to scrape the last of the mess out of the pan and cleans it with soap and water.

He dries it off and sets it on the stove to heat before showing an extremely attentive Toy Soldier and a less-attentive Lyf (he’s very distracted by the way Marius’s hands move and by memories of their encounter the night before) how to prepare eggs properly. Marius offers him the spatula and Lyf realizes he’s expecting him to actually try to cook.

“Oh, no, you’re way better at that than I am. I’ll probably just ruin it again.”

“Oh, I see; this was a ploy to get me to make you breakfast, wasn’t it?” Marius bumps his hip against Lyf’s and turns back to the stove to continue cooking.

“I mean, that wasn’t the original plan, but I’m not going to complain if you do.”

“Well, maybe I won’t make you a serving unless you give me something in return…” Marius teases innocently, and the bastard knows  _ exactly _ what he’s doing.

“If I give you something in return, do you promise not to burn my eggs?” Lyf tries to sound like the world-weary, long-suffering ex-inspector that he is, but his tone comes out much too flirty for his liking.

“I can’t promise that, but I can promise to eat any eggs I might burn.”

“I can accept that.” Lyf stands on his toes to wrap his arms around Marius’s neck and pull him into a kiss. It’s  _ softer _ than he was going for, lacking the simmering heat of the previous two nights. It just feels… domestic. For a second, Lyf lets himself forget that Marius couldn’t possibly want them to be more than whatever they are currently.

A shot rings out, just grazing the side of Marius’s head.

“Ow!” he puts a hand to the small wound the bullet sliced into his scalp.

Jonny is standing in the doorway, a sour look on his face. “If you two are going to be gross, do it somewhere else.”

“You have to be nice to me, I’m making breakfast!” Marius protests.

Jonny raises an eyebrow at all the failed attempts at food Lyf and TS have left in the sink and looks back at Marius incredulously.

“I don’t have to do anything, Von Raum. Especially when you’re being gross where we eat our food.”

“It’s not contagious.” Marius rolls his eyes. “You’re such a drama queen.”

“Well I For One Think They’re Very Sweet Together!” The Toy Soldier exclaims, “It’s All Very Romantic!”

“Not really…” Lyf says uncomfortably under his breath. Even if he maybe wanted it to be. Does he want it to be? What he wants right now is not to think about this.

Jonny turns his gun on the Toy Soldier and its head goes splintering across the room.

“All of you stop being fucking disgusting. I get enough of this shit from Nastya and Aurora.”

“If we stop kissing and I make you breakfast, will you stop being a cranky baby and put the gun away?”

“No, but stop kissing and make me breakfast anyways. That’s an order from your captain.”

“First Mate!” TS chips in from where it’s reassembling itself on the floor. Jonny shoots it again.

If Lyf notices Marius spit into Jonny’s eggs before he serves them, he’s certainly not going to tell. He’s not a rat.

The rest of the Mechs file in for breakfast, taking up their usual routine of affectionate ribbing. Brian, who is apparently on Bastard Mode, immediately turns the subject to Marius and Lyf and yesterday’s… arrangement.

Word travels fast on the Aurora, apparently. Marius sinks down into his chair, looking mortified as everyone else rolls their eyes.

“Jesus Christ, you two are  _ so _ stupid.” Ashes snorts.

Lyf decides he doesn’t want to have this conversation anymore and pushes away his mostly-empty plate. “Well, this has been fun as always, but it really hasn’t. Toy Soldier, thank you for hanging out with me this morning; fuck the rest of you. I hate you all.”

“Don’t get greedy, Lyf, you’re already fucking Marius!” Tim teases.

“I am going to throw your eyeballs down Raphaella’s shower drain,” Lyf threatens, and turns on his heel and stalks out of the room.

He knows that Marius has followed him by the volume of the cat calls that pour out of the kitchen, followed by a couple of gunshots and then-

“Lyf! Wait up.” Marius appears at his side, though Lyf tries not to look at him. “Um. I know I keep starting Serious Conversations but-”

“Is this about my leaving without saying anything this morning?” Lyf interrupts, “Because I’m sorry about that, I really was expecting to be back before you woke up. TS and I just got carried away.”

Marius looks a little perplexed, “I mean… I… It’s okay. Did you have a bad dream or something?”

Lyf considers lying and just saying yes, but instead settles on a half-truth, “No, I just couldn’t sleep.” It sounds weak, but he can’t just say  _ I was pining over what we’re never going to be _ , can he? He  _ can _ , but he’s sure if he said that, whatever it was between them would be over and he doesn’t want that. He doesn’t think he could stand to lose it, no matter how fucking bad it hurt.

“That… I mean, I really don’t care that much about that. I mean, yeah, it was a little rude, but I get it. That’s not really what I wanted to talk to you about. I mean… it’s marginally related to that, I guess, but… about last night…” He hesitates, seemingly trying to formulate his words carefully. “Th-that was okay, right?”

It’s kind of a dumb question for all the thought that seems to have gone into it.

“Marius, if it wasn’t okay you definitely would have known last night. You also already asked me that last night. Multiple times. I told you it was fine every time.”

“I-I know, but I just want to make sure, you know?”

“I’ll let you know if it’s ever not okay, Marius.”

He nods. “Okay, good. Different, but similar question: was it… good?”

Lyf can’t help his laughter. He’d absolutely never in a million years have thought Marius Von Raum would be anything but 100% confident with his performance of any kind. Marius prickles a bit at the laughter but Lyf waves him off.

“Sorry, sorry, that caught me off guard. I just wasn’t expecting that question.” Lyf takes a deep breath to calm himself, “ _ Yes, _ it was good.”

“ _ Just _ ‘good’?” Marius prods.

“That’s all you’re getting out of me, Von Raum.” Lyf grins.

God, as little as he’d expected Marius to worry about something like this, he’d expected himself to be teasing Marius about something like this even less. It’s funny, almost, how much things have changed between them in such a short amount of time.

It takes him a second to realize Marius is complaining at him about his lack of detail. Lyf rolls his eyes and presses Marius into the wall, kissing him to shut him up.

“You’ll just have to make sure next time is  _ great _ .” Lyf whispers.

A goofy grin spreads across Marius’s face as Lyf lets go of him and heads down the hall, Marius following at his heels, calling once again for him to wait up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is probably gonna be the penultimate,,,, the end of an era


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marius and Lyf locked in a closet, what secrets will they confess?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so I lied last chapter, this is the last official chapter of this fic, but there will be a brief epilogue and also I'll probably write more about these two in this universe as silly fluff pieces and stuff (plus I might delve a little more into eldritch lyf)

Marius had chickened out again. He isn’t sure he does it on purpose, but somehow Lyf has a talent for twisting the thread of the conversation away from what Marius intends to tell him. Marius doesn’t want to think too hard about the possibility that Lyf is doing it on purpose because he doesn’t want to hear what he has to say.

He’s been trying to tell Lyf he loves him for weeks now. Brian hasn’t switched back to Boring Mode since their last conversation. Plus, he’s decided that the ends he’s working towards is continuing to make Marius miserable so he is “justified in not giving you advice, you sad, silly clown.” Which is just a low blow. Usually, he’s at least a happy clown.

The rest of the crew just thinks it’s hilarious. None of them are any goddamned help. He’d been so sure they’d get sick of it after a week, but so far the person who seems most annoyed is Nastya, and even then she doesn’t seem inclined to offer any advice. Which is even more rude considering the fact that she’s in a loving relationship herself and thus has  _ experience _ in these matters.

So Marius has been tripping over his tongue and stumbling around his feelings pretty much every single day. Lyf hasn’t slept in his own bed since they’ve been back on the Aurora, so maybe that’s a good sign? Marius can’t be sure. Lyf has always been rather difficult to read unless he’s pissed. When he’s pissed, he’ll let you know it. Otherwise, it’s pretty much a crapshoot.

What Marius  _ is _ sure about is that he’s tired of holding it in. For every day that passes with this unspoken, undefined  _ thing _ between them, Marius feels more and more like he’s going to explode. He’s started spending an unhealthy amount of time in front of the mirror, repeating those three words to himself over and over again. But every time he tries to say them to Lyf, his tongue and his brain stop functioning in unison.

It should be so easy. There are so many times he  _ wants _ to say it every day: when he wakes up next to him, all messy hair and tired eyes and sleep-rough voice; when he gives one of his genuine, radiant, unguarded smiles, directed at him; when he folds himself into Marius’s arms when he’s too tired to keep his eyes open; when Marius succeeds at annoying him enough that he gets that cute little furrow between his brows. Hell, he even feels the need to say it when Lyf tries to boil him to death by clinging to him in his sleep, though their thermodynamic equilibrium  _ has _ started to even out a little since they’ve both started wearing fewer clothes to bed. 

Lyf is clinging to him right now, his hair spread behind him on the pillow, still snoring softly. Marius is so in love with him, it hurts. He just needs to spit it out. 

His commlink flashes at him from the bedside table and he gently reaches over Lyf to grab it. There are three messages, all equally ominous:

**_AUR:_** _Hello Marius, this is Aurora, I am just forewarning you that today is the day! Good Luck!_

**_DBB:_ ** _ RIP in advance, Von Raum _

**_ANR:_ ** _ We are coming for you, motherfucker. _

Marius doesn’t have time to respond before all hell breaks loose. Brian, Nastya, and the Toy Soldier burst in through his door. Lyf sits bolt upright and reality warps around him for a second like he just sent a pulse of madness out in surprise. Everything goes weird for a second and the Toy Soldier uses the distraction to grab Lyf firmly around the waist and drag him from the bed. Brian and Nastya aren't nearly as gentle with Marius, opting instead to just shoot him in the head rather unceremoniously.

When Marius wakes up, he is being forcibly shoved into a broom closet by Brian and Nastya, and the Toy Soldier is trying to shove Lyf in after him. Lyf stumbles into Marius, and he catches him by the shoulders to steady him. The trio of traitors slams the door behind them and it hisses closed as Aurora seals them in.

“You two can come out when you’ve had an actual conversation about your fucking feelings,” Nastya says, and Marius can just imagine her giving Aurora a smugly affectionate pat.

“And actually fucking spit it out this time, Marius.” 

Marius  _ sorely _ misses Boring Brian. 

“Aurora is keeping an eye on you and will release you when you’ve complied with our demands. Don’t try to escape, because I  _ will _ kill you both if you hurt my girlfriend.” Nastya’s voice is a threatening growl. 

And then Marius hears three sets of footsteps getting further and further away. 

“Well. That was… a rude wake up call,” Lyf mutters, dusting himself off. “I mean, what are they expecting us to say? Haven’t we already had this conversation??”

Lyf seems agitated, which isn’t helping the state of Marius’s nerves, but honestly he’d rather get this over with before they both get cranky.

He takes a deep breath. “Actually, Lyf…”

Something flashes through Lyf’s eyes too quickly for Marius to catch before he puts up a mental wall and his expression becomes unreadable. He opens his mouth to cut Marius off, but Marius doesn’t give him the chance this time.

“Don’t, Lyfrassir. Let me speak. You keep distracting me every time I try to bring this up and I feel like you do it on purpose-”

“Of course I don’t do it on purpose-” Lyf tries to start again, but Marius just keeps talking.

“-and I need you to please just shut up and  _ listen _ , okay?”

“I don’t want to hear it! I just… I can’t, Marius, I can’t. If you say it, everything is going to change and I’m so tired of things  _ changing _ I just want one constant in my fucking life.”

“You don’t even know what I’m going to  _ say _ , Lyf!”

“Maybe not exactly, but I can guess the jist of it!” Lyf folds his arms across his chest and seems to shrink into himself, as though trying to make himself less of a target.

“If you actually know what I’m going to say, then why are you so sure things are going to change for the worse?”

“Because they always do, Marius!”

“No, they don’t, you’re just a pessimistic asshole! Yeah, so the world literally ended, but  _ you _ survived, you’ve seen more of the galaxy than you did the whole time you were working as a fucking  _ cop _ , you actually have friends now and we all care about you, Lyfrassir, you massive, massive  _ tool _ .” Marius pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. “This isn’t what I wanted to say, god  _ damn _ it, Lyf. Stop talking and just  _ listen _ , I am literally begging you and I do not have any pride left about it. I  _ will _ get on my knees if you want me to, just… listen.”

Lyf has shut himself off again but he remains silent to Marius decides that he might as well proceed.

Marius takes another deep breath.

“Lyf. What I’ve been trying and failing to tell you for fucking  _ weeks  _ now…”  _ Fucking Spit. It. Out, Von Raum! _ “Lyfrassir Edda.  _ Christ _ , that sounds like I’m asking you to marry me, hang on.”

Marius turns around and slaps himself in the face a couple times and then turns back around and just lets it out: “I’m in love with you, Lyf.”

There is a long moment of silence and Marius is pretty sure his heart has stopped beating entirely. He cannot read Lyf’s expression and  _ oh god, he doesn’t want to be stuck alone in here with him if he isn’t going to say anything back _ . But the door is locked and he knows Aurora isn’t going to let him out that easily. Marius anxiously wrings his hands together.

“Please say something, I’m horrible with quiet at the best of times, but I am  _ especially  _ bad with it when I just kind of spilled my heart all over the floor there.”

Lyf opens his mouth… and then shuts it… and then reopens it and Marius is ready to crawl into the fucking vents and begin a new life among the octokittens if he doesn’t start actually speaking.

Lyf takes a deep breath. “Okay, so I was wrong. I didn’t know the jist of what you were going to say. I was… kind of expecting you to say the… exact opposite of that.”

“What, you were expecting me to say ‘Sorry Lyfrassir, despite the fact that I have been sleeping with you in both the literal and euphemistic sense of the phrase every night for the past few weeks, I actually cannot fucking stand you’?”

“No, I mean, not exactly those words, just more like, ‘I don’t like you as much as I thought I did and I think that everything we’ve been doing should stop.’”

“Lyfrassir, if I wanted to stop, I would have told you that when the whole thing started. I know I’ve been a little spineless about admitting to you that I’m in love with you, but I’m not so spineless as to avoid telling you I wanted to stop. Besides, I feel like you would have noticed if I was anything but extremely enthusiastic.”

Lyf is quiet for a second, mulling that over. “Okay, true, but-”

“Lyf.” Marius cuts him off, “ _ Please _ . I’m grateful that you’re actually saying something but I am going to need a response either way. You don’t have to return my feelings, of course, I totally get that and I’m sure I’ll get over it eventually, but like, I’m going to need you to tell me that out loud so that Aurora will let us out of here and I can nurse my wounded heart in peace.”

“Marius?” Lyf is giving him an incredulous look that Marius doesn’t quite understand.

“Yes?”

“Shut up.” And then Lyf pulls him down by his collar and kisses him so softly that Marius feels like his knees are seconds away from buckling. He wraps his arms around Lyf and kisses him back. He’s trying not to laugh into the kiss but he can’t help how  _ happy _ he is and all of a sudden Lyf is laughing too and they both have to take a second to get it out of their systems, leaning their foreheads against each other as they do.

“I’m in love with you too, you immortal, mostly-human equivalent of a headache.” There isn’t any bite behind the words and Marius can only laugh harder. 

The door hisses open behind them and Marius grabs Lyf’s hand.

“Let’s get out of here before they all come back to bother us. I want you all to myself right now.” Marius grins at him, and Lyf lets out another laugh, tangling their fingers together and following behind him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading, this fic has been a wild ride to write from start to finish alksdjfsdlk


	19. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> finally ground this out sorry that I don't know how to write epilogues

If you’d have asked Lyfrassir Edda what he thought about the Mechanisms back before the Rataosk Express had arrived, he would have told you he hated them. 

He couldn’t stand their constant music and their endless jabbering and Von Raum’s particularly baffling ability to produce violins out of thin air. He hated his coworkers’ teasing about Marius’s blatant crush on him (and he would have protested the implication because obviously Von Raum wasn’t seriously flirting with him, he was just being mocking!)

If you’d told Lyf he’d actually become  _ friends _ with the unruly band of space pirates, he would have laughed in your face. But thinking back on the past… hell, Lyf has lost all track of how long he’d been with the Mechanisms at this point. Thinking back on the past however-long-it’s-been, Lyf realizes just how  _ close _ they all are. It’s a weird sort of family dynamic, all of them trading mostly-friendly jabs and mostly-friendly gunshots. And Lyf had ended up in the middle of it and it seemed… perfectly normal.

They even still avoid shooting him, though they don’t always succeed on this front. At least it’s mostly accidental. In return, he’s managed not to send them all into a spiral of mind-eating madness with his bizarre new powers. There have been a couple calls that were a little close to be entirely comfortable but well… that’s a story for another day.

As for Marius, well… once again, if you’d told pre-black box Lyfrassir Edda that he would fall in love with one of the loud, strange prisoners New Midgard had had in their cells before he had even joined the force, he probably would have had you committed. Not only was the notion completely inappropriate given the dynamic, but Von Raum was the most insufferable of the bunch.

Lyfrassir couldn’t really put a finger on where that had changed.

Obviously, the prisoner/cop dynamic had fled when Marius had, but the rest of it… Maybe it had been at the museum, that brief, dizzying kiss and the soft brush of Marius’s hands as he clasped the necklace for him. Maybe it had been after he’d died the first time, when Marius had wrapped him in his jacket and held him close to his chest and carried him back to the inn and let him cling to him and cry into his chest. Maybe it was even before that, the look on Marius’s face when Lyf had been twirled into the room by a grinning Tim, decked out in his new outfit. Maybe it was that first night they’d shared a bed. Maybe, even, it was that first night that Lyf had arrived on the Aurora, exhausted and bedraggled, and Marius had scooped him up into his arms and taken him to the medbay.

Wherever the shift had occurred, it definitely  _ had _ occurred. Obviously. He  _ is _ dating the man now. 

Right now, Lyf is wrapped around Marius’s back, a leg thrown over his side and arms wrapped fully around him, still half-asleep. The fingers of Marius’s non-mech hand are weaved through Lyf’s own and Lyf knows he’s awake from the gentle pressure of his thumb running across his knuckles. 

“Hey Marius?” his voice comes out as a half-mumble, still rough with sleep.

“Mhm?” Marius hums in reply. His thumb doesn’t stop stroking their hand.

“Before the whole black box thing, did you ever imagine we’d be here like this?”

Marius laughs softly and Lyf can feel the vibrations where his chest meets his back.

“Hell no. First of all, you were a  _ cop _ . We don’t normally gel with cops. Usually, we just kill them. You, however, were extremely fun to annoy so we stuck around for a while longer. And maybe I thought you were a  _ little _ cute. But I knew that we’d have to leave you behind so annoying you was better than developing actual feelings. Not that I was… very good at not developing actual feelings.”

“You were, however, extremely talented at being annoying.” Lyf says fondly, pressing a kiss to the back of his neck.

Marius laughs, “That is one of my many, many talents.” He shifts a little so Lyf lets him go for a second as he turns himself around so they’re face-to-face. “I’m also very good at cooking, holding hands, playing the violin, improv comedy, seduction, being sexy- yes those are two separate things- docting, dying on the hill that ‘docting’ is an actual word-” he stops short when Lyf really starts laughing out loud.

“You  _ are _ good at all those things. Don’t get a big head because I said that.” Lyf kisses him on the nose. 

“You didn’t let me finish, I had a really smooth segue into kissing you.” Marius pouts.

Lyf laughs again, “You’re also a good kisser, Marius.”

Marius grins back at him and presses a soft kiss to his lips.

*

Marius is being truthful when he tells Lyf he wouldn’t have ever expected that they would end up together like this at first. Honestly, he isn’t sure he expected them to end up together-together at all before they got locked in that damn room (he was still pretending to be mad at Nastya, Brian, TS, and Aurora for that, but he  _ had _ swallowed his pride enough that he had thanked Aurora at least, who he’s sure relayed the message to her lover if no one else.)

He’d had feelings for Lyf for longer than he probably cared to admit, given that he’d murdered Brian pretty brutally in order to turn the ship around and retrieve Lyf’s cramped little spacepod the second he’d heard the name attached to the SOS message. The thing he’d been unsure about was Lyf’s feelings towards  _ him _ .

But now here he is, wrapped around him like a particularly clingy octokitten, kissing him back sweetly. Marius almost wanted to slap himself to make sure it was real. Lyf cups Marius’s cheeks in his hands and deepens the kiss just a little bit.

It’s a long while before they finally pull apart.

“You’re also an extremely good kisser.” Marius breathes, snuggling closer against him.

“Good to know given that you’re the only person I’ve practiced on in a while.” Lyf laughs softly.

“Lyfrassir…” Marius gently presses his lips to Lyf’s neck just to feel him shiver.

“Yes, Marius?”

“Have I told you lately that I’m in love with you?”

Lyf laughs softly, “You might have mentioned it once or twice. I’m in love with you too.”

Marius can’t help but kiss him again and this one goes on for even longer than the first.

They both arrive to breakfast late, but if anyone cares why, they don’t ask. Probably because the others already suspect that the two had gotten so caught up in kissing each other that they had lost track of time. Which is precisely what had happened. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks again for reading! I do still plan to write more with these two goofs in this universe so keep an eye out!


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